Impending Loss
by heartlandwriters
Summary: "Georgie felt like she was confessing to a crime, she was just so guilt-ridden she hadn't been able to protect her sister and bring her home. Her mother had trusted her, and now…" Tragedy strikes the Heartland family. Will they be able to pull through, or will whatever else they have left fall to pieces as well? Set after season 12.
1. Chapter 1

"So, what do you think?" Lou asked, turning the computer screen toward him a little. "You think Katie will like it?"

The man looked up from his phone and gazed over at the dress on the shopping website. "Lou, that looks exactly like the one you showed me just two minutes ago."

Lou laughed a little. "No, see…this one has a floral pattern and a sash, and that one wasn't even pink. Are you even paying attention?"

"What!? Of course I am!" He defended. He sighed, relenting. "Okay, okay, fine." He tossed his phone on the seat beside him and focused completely on what it was Lou was asking him to do. "Okay, you know what? I think this is the one. The other just seemed so plain; Katie would never wear it."

Lou smiled. "Okay, so this one it is."

"Aren't you going to wait for her to okay it before buying it?"

"Well, it's the dress I want her to wear the day of her birthday, and I kind of want it to be a surprise…I just hope she doesn't hate it."

Mitch gazed lovingly at his wife. "No, you know she won't. I'm sure she's going to fall in love with it. But her birthday is a month away, why are you getting it now?"

"I just like to plan ahead, you know that." Lou shrugged a shoulder.

Mitch smirked. "Yeah, I know."

"What are you looking at me like that for?"

"Looking at you like what…?" Mitch smiled, leaning in, a playful look in his eye.

The sudden knock at the door made Lou jump, a hand immediately travelling to her chest as her heart began to race. She inhaled sharply, looking at her husband. "Who could that be?"

With his arm still around Lou, Mitch craned his neck back, trying to get a look at who could be at the door, but to no avail. He exhaled heavily. "I have no idea." He stood, beginning to walk to the door. "We expecting someone…?" He asked almost to himself as he arrived at the door.

But the scene that met his eyes through the screen brought an unsettling feeling into his heart, making his mouth go dry and his breath becoming hitched in his throat.

"Mitch, who is it?" He heard Lou call out from the living room. But he couldn't answer, his voice refused to come out. Mitch swallowed as he reached for the door.

When he swung the door open, his eyes darted from the male police officer who stood on his porch to his step-daughter, who was already walking into the house. Her face was bloodied, a wild look in her eyes. As Mitch looked closer, he saw that the side of her face was scraped and there was a gash spilling blood from just under her hairline. "Georgie, kiddo…" he finally breathed out, his voice aghast.

As Georgie stepped into the kitchen, she was about to ask Mitch where Lou was, but the thought melted away because immediately, Georgie saw Lou walking toward her. The look on her mother's face and the way she carried herself scared the wits out of Georgie, making her heart drop down into her stomach. "Mom…" She barely breathed out.

Lou moved toward her daughter, her hand immediately reaching for Georgie's face. Lou saw that the side of her face was all scraped up and there was a deep cut on her forehead. "Honey…what happened to you?"

"Mom." Georgie spoke, her voice firm. Georgie's hand shook as she brought it up to where Lou's was, and she squeezed it reassuringly. "I'm okay. It's nothing."

Lou looked at Georgie, nodding her head, trying to be okay with what she was seeing. Her daughter's face was all bloodied, and she looked scared out of her mind. Or was it something else?

Lou's gaze floated over to the man in uniform who stepped inside their home. Lou's lips parted, and she looked back to Georgie. "Honey, where's—where's your sister? Did you drop her off at Jen's?"

Lou's words cut at Georgie's heart. How she wished that Katie was at her friend's house. Georgie swallowed hard, trying to get rid of the lump she felt in her throat.

Georgie didn't want to look Lou in the eye. She wanted to hold her gaze low, so she didn't have to see the look on her mother's face. But she made the mistake of looking up.

"Sweetie, where's your sister?" Lou questioned her in a voice that was barely audible, but loud enough for Georgie to know that her mother was dying inside, the dread and fear making themselves apparent in her.

The officer spoke. "Ma'am, I'm afraid I have some bad news. There was an accident involving both of your daughters."

Lou felt her chest tighten, and she shifted her weight, her hand going down to hold onto Georgie's wrist protectively. "_Accident?"_

Mitch immediately moved toward Lou, a hand going to her back. From the look on the officer's face, he knew what was coming at them next.

"I'm sorry to inform you that your youngest did not survive the car accident."

"_Katie? She's not here with you?"_ Lou questioned, wide-eyed, her gaze travelling over to Georgie. Lou noticed how silent Georgie was, how she refused to speak, refused to look at her anymore.

"I'm very sorry for your loss. I'm very sorry." The officer repeated as he stepped away to respond to a dispatch.

Lou turned back to Georgie. "Honey, what was he saying? Where's—where's Katie? She was just with you, right? She's okay…she's okay, right?" The words spewed from Lou's lips frantically, and she brought a hand to Georgie's chin, trying to get her to look up.

Georgie finally brought her eyes up. She shook her head. "Mom, she's not okay. Katie's gone." Georgie uttered as she watched the colour fade away from her mother's face, the tears beginning to form in her eyes.

Georgie watched on helplessly as Lou moved back a couple steps, her mother's hand ripping away from hers.

Georgie reached out for Lou, but she was just out of reach. "Mom—"

There was a wild look in her mother's eyes. "Honey, what are you…?"

"Mom…" Georgie breathed out, her heart aching. She felt so detached from herself, and she couldn't believe she was the one having to break this news to her own mother.

Georgie felt like she was confessing to a crime, she was just so guilt-ridden she hadn't been able to protect her sister and bring her home. Her mother had trusted her, and now…

"No, no…she…I was just—Mitch and I were just picking out a dress for her birthday. She was going to come home and we were going to—no, she can't be—" Lou broke off, staring at her daughter. "Honey, where's Katie?" Lou demanded in a firm voice, yet it was wavering and breaking.

Georgie looked over at Mitch, a heartbroken look in her eyes. She pleaded with him to make Lou understand, to make her realize what had just happened because…she couldn't do it.

Mitch turned his wife toward him. He helped her sit down at the roundtable. "Honey, Georgie's trying to tell you that Katie is gone. She died."

The realization finally settled, and Lou's head turned to her daughter. "Georgie?" Lou's voice shattered.

Georgie let out a shaky breath, overwhelming relief washing over her that Lou was reaching out, calling to her. She rushed forward and threw her arms around Lou, and as she did, she became aware of Lou's frame trembling against her.

Lou's cries intensified as they tore through her body. And when suddenly her chest tightened up so much so that she was gasping for air, a sob escaped her lips. She immediately brought a shaking hand to cover her face, trying in vain to hold onto Georgie just as tight as Georgie held onto her.

* * *

**A/N: Thoughts on this?**


	2. Chapter 2

After what seemed like hours, Georgie watched on as Mitch moved Lou away from her and led her to their room. Georgie walked on after them and saw the two of them sit down on the bed through the crack in the door.

Mitch held her there in his gentle arms, cradling her head, allowing her to unload the burden of her grief onto him and he refused to let go. He knew there was nothing he could say to her that would make it better, so he just sat there with her, not saying anything.

After making some calls, Georgie went and sat down on the floor by the door of Lou and Mitch's room. All Georgie could do was sit there numbly and listen to Lou's heartbreaking cries, which were rising in volume. Georgie's ears were ringing, her head felt congested and she could barely keep her eyes open.

Georgie wasn't aware of how much time had passed before her aunt and Jack and Tim arrived at the house.

Amy fell to the floor beside Georgie, calling out to her. "Georgie. Hey, Georgie?"

Georgie turned her head eventually, evidently surprised. She hadn't heard anybody come in. "Amy…" her voice came out broken as tears began to form in her eyes.

"Georgie."

"Mom won't stop crying…" Georgie said with the innocence of a young child. "She…" Georgie inhaled, looking in the direction of her mother's room. "She won't stop."

"Lou needs some time."

Georgie looked over at Amy. "I wish I could fix everything. But I can't." Her voice came out ragged, almost choked, like she was out of air.

"Oh, I know you do."

Georgie looked up at Jack and Tim, her eyes were almost pleading their forgiveness. "Jack…" she breathed out, her chest heaving.

Georgie suddenly became aware of the increasing volumes of Lou's crying. As the sound of wailing and suffering came in through the doorway, Georgie slammed her head back into the wall, writhing in pain.

* * *

Later that day, when the sun had set and the ranch was engulfed in complete darkness, Peter arrived at Heartland.

Amy finally made her way to her sister's room. She cracked the door open to Lou's room. With the little bit of light that shone through the door, Amy saw that Lou lay on her side, facing toward the window and away from the door. Was she asleep? Amy couldn't tell.

Amy sat down on the bed and hesitantly brought a hand to rest on Lou's arm. "Hey, are you awake?"

Lou shifted a little, but didn't say anything for a little while.

Neither did Amy, because she didn't know what she was supposed to say, what she was allowed to.

After a minute, though, Lou spoke. "Where's Georgie?"

"Living room."

"Could you call her in for me?"

"She's with Peter."

Lou turned her head back, as if to question if she had heard Amy right.

"He just got here. I came in here to tell you."

Lou said nothing.

"Should I call him inside? Or do you want to come out to see him…?"

After a moment or so of deliberating, Lou sat up in bed.

Amy stood and came to the other side to wait on Lou as she stood up, and then the two of them headed out of the room.

Georgie's head turned as she caught sight of Lou and Amy from the corner of her eye. She was surprised, to say the least. She hadn't expected Amy to bring Lou out so quickly.

Georgie felt like she was having an out-of-body experience as she watched Peter walk over to Lou and meet her half-way. The blood was pounding in her ears so much so that she couldn't hear what they were saying. She watched them embrace, exchange a few words and then just completely fall apart. None of which she could hear, and she was so thankful.

Georgie's gaze travelled over to Amy, who stood a little behind them. She watched as her expression went from sad and desolate to alarmed and fearful. Georgie's head whipped back around only to see Jack headed toward the front door, and Tim following soon after.

"HUDSON POLICE!" The knocking seemed to become less and less muffled until it just became loud and scary.

Georgie's pulse was racing as she walked into the kitchen. Her legs were shaky, and she could barely stand up straight.

As Jack opened the door, the two officers strode into the house, making their presence known.

"Can we help you with something?" Tim spoke, his tone harsh.

"Actually, yes. We have an arrest warrant for Georgina Fleming-Morris."

Georgie felt a shudder jerk through her body. She propelled herself forward, trying in vain to be ready for what was coming next. She heard Lou cry out, but she didn't dare look back. She just couldn't.

"On what grounds?" Peter demanded as he stepped forward, moving in between his daughter and the men in uniform.

"We have evidence suggesting that Georgina was speeding at the time of the accident, with a minor in the vehicle. Which of course, as you all know, resulted in the death of that child."

Georgie let out a choked breath, her hand about to travel to hold onto Peter's arm, but she then thought better of it.

"Georgie, is this true?" Tim directed his question at his granddaughter, only to be shushed by Jack, who knew better than to be speaking in front of these men.

But Georgie did want to speak, she needed her family to know she had done nothing wrong. "I wasn't. I wasn't speeding!" Georgie defended herself, turning back to finally look at Lou, whose eyes held doubt and they seemed to be pointing blame on Georgie. "Mom, no!" Georgie's voice tore from her throat. "No, no, I wasn't!"

Shaking, Georgie stepped in front of Peter, looking directly at the officers. "I wasn't. I wasn't speeding." She kept repeating, speaking in a calm and controlled voice. "I really wasn't."

The man had a bored look on his face. No, it was arrogance, thought Georgie to herself. He didn't care what Georgie thought or said to him because he had some sort of evidence to support the fact that she had been speeding the car.

"Then how do you explain the fact that a child is dead?" He spat out the words. "That girl is dead—"

"That _girl_ was my sister." Georgie stood her ground, though she knew she should probably shut up right about now. Her heart was pounding inside her ribcage, and she could barely breathe, let alone get any of those words out.

"Yeah, and now she's dead because of your recklessness. Which brings us to…well, there are subsequent charges of manslaughter."

It happened really quickly. One moment Georgie was standing and speaking to him and the next she was being restrained by the second officer, her hands being shackled. She made the mistake of speaking up, of demanding they let her go because she was innocent and because she had done nothing wrong.

She was pushed to the ground on her stomach, her head slammed down in place. Even at this low point, Georgie turned her gaze toward her mother, who was being held back by Mitch.

She watched helplessly as her mother loosened Mitch's hold on her and moved ahead, yelling at the men. "Let my daughter go! She's done nothing wrong!"

The officer gripped Lou's arm, pushing her back with force but Lou held her ground. He wasn't one to succumb and so he resisted, and pushed Lou back more forcefully.

"HEY! DON'T TOUCH HER!" Georgie raised her head to get a good look at the scene. "MITCH, GET HER AWAY FROM THEM!" Georgie screamed as her voice tore from her throat.

The officer who had shackled her slammed her head down to the ground. "Shut it! Do you want me to add resistance of arrest to your catalogue of charges?"

Georgie's head spun as she heard Lou scream, and she felt blood and beads of sweat trickling down her forehead and down the side of her face. Georgie had to blink a few times to make sure she was seeing right. Lou was back and well away from the police and Mitch held her with a gentle touch, his hands around her torso.

Forgetting the pain she was in or how humiliated she felt, Georgie could only focus on the look on her mother's face in this moment in time. Her eyes were frightened and filled with dread. Or was it doubt? Was the look in her eyes accusatory?

That was the only thing Georgie could think about: the look on Lou's face. It drove her nearly insane that she couldn't say anything, because she knew if she spoke, the man who held her down would retaliate. She didn't necessarily care for herself, because she wasn't afraid of getting hurt anymore, but she just couldn't bear being handled like a criminal in front of her parents anymore.

She felt her body being lifted and maneuvered toward the front door. The guilt and shame she felt in this moment was so overwhelming and Georgie felt as if she would pass out. Georgie could vaguely hear her parents' voices behind her getting quieter and quieter, almost as if they were fading away. She began to feel dizzy and her eyelids began to get heavier and heavier…

* * *

**A/N: Hmm, what did you think about this?**


	3. Chapter 3

Georgie sat on the floor of the containment cell for the majority of that night. Her head continued to spin. She felt dizzy and even nauseous. She wanted to cry out for help because she knew that this level of pain was not normal. There was definitely something wrong. But she also knew that she probably wouldn't get much medical help for a head related injury. The blood that had spilled from her cuts was already dried up, and she wasn't bleeding anymore. So she wasn't in any immediate danger, she told herself.

Georgie was in utter shock, she was shaking in fear for what would come next. Did these people seriously believe she had been speeding? Because she knew for a fact that she hadn't been. Or maybe she had been, but she couldn't recall correctly anymore. She was beginning to doubt herself…But no, she would never…not with her baby sister in the car.

Georgie was sure she didn't do anything wrong, so why was she in here? What evidence did they have against her that was so damning they had had to throw her in here…?

What would happen now? Would she spend the rest of her life in prison? For causing her own sister's death?

_Oh my god, Mom, Dad…_

She worried what was happening at home, what was going through her parents' minds at this point. Did they believe that she was guilty too? Georgie couldn't even reach out to them right now. She was stuck in this cell for who knew how long. But her parents had to know that she hadn't been speeding. They had to know she was innocent, right?

Or were her parents here, trying to get her out on bail…? Did they believe she was even worth the bail money, or would they just leave her in there, thinking she really was guilty? That she was the reason their baby was taken from them forever?

The only worse thing than being thrown into a detention centre like this one for the rest of her life was the thought of her parents and how they would cope for the rest of their lives thinking that their daughter had played a part in the death of their youngest.

She closed her eyes and leaned her head to the wall, trying to block out the noise that was coming in from the other cells and resisting the urge to cry out or punch the walls in.

Hours later, though it felt like minutes to Georgie, her cell door clanged open. Georgie jolted awake, her hand reaching out to grip the floor for balance. She craned her neck a little, trying to get a clear view of whoever was in front of her.

"Fleming-Morris?"

Georgie sat in the interview room, holding her hands together on the table in front of her, fidgeting and cracking her knuckles. She looked up as a man appeared in the doorway. He was wearing a suit, and he held a briefcase in his hands.

"You're—you're the lawyer." Georgie guessed.

He nodded. "I am." As he sat, he smiled warmly at her. "I have some good news for you."

Georgie laughed wryly, her hand travelling to the back of her head. She nervously bunched up her hair, agitated. "Good news? How can there be good news? I could be going to jail for the rest of my life."

"No, that is not going to happen."

Georgie was shocked. She wasn't sure if she had even heard him right, her ears were ringing so much. "What…? But I thought they had evidence, that they were sure—"

"Turns out the speedometer readings were off. The machines weren't working properly at the time of the accident because, as it turns out, they were undergoing unofficial testing yesterday, which the authorities were unaware of. It just so happened that…well, the timing was really bad. But as it stands now, there is no sustaining evidence against you."

Georgie stared at him in disbelief. "Wait, wait, so I'm not in trouble?"

"Well, you did nothing wrong, so no, you're not in trouble."

Georgie exhaled. "I just don't get it, though. Just last night, they were arresting me for charges of manslaughter, and they were so sure. And now—?" Georgie broke off, breathing in sharply.

"Well, they were later able to tap into the CCTV footage, and they obtained evidence that you were _not_, in fact, speeding."

Georgie breathed out heavily, a lump forming in her throat. She put a trembling hand to her mouth, trying to keep herself together. "I was so scared," she readily admitted as her eyes welled up.

"I can understand that, but you have absolutely nothing to worry about. You did nothing wrong."

Georgie nodded thankfully, her eyes were so filled with tears that they had begun to spill down her face. Georgie wiped her eyes. "So, so—my record is clean? Will I have to appear in court?"

"Your record is clean. You weren't speeding, and you most certainly were not responsible for anyone's death."

Georgie nodded.

"And no, you will not be appearing in court."

"Right, okay. Okay. Thank you."

The man smiled. "Just doing my job. I'll, uh—give you a few moments to yourself and then I will be back with some paperwork. Just standard stuff that you have to sign before we can get you home."

Georgie nodded. "Thank you so much."

* * *

Once Georgie was released, she walked out into the main room and saw Peter standing by the entrance. He immediately turned to hug his daughter, engulfing her frame with his own.

"Georgie, honey." Peter exhaled, relieved.

Georgie was taken aback by the hug and it took her a moment to bring her arms down to hug her father. "Oh, Dad…" she cried as she let her tense muscles relax. She leaned her head on his shoulder. "Dad…"

"I know. I know, honey…It's okay, I've got you."

"Dad, I didn't—I didn't do anything wrong…"

"I know you didn't. I know you would never do something so reckless…Your mom and I both know. Okay, look. Let's just forget about all of this and try to move on, okay? We've already lost so much…"

Georgie bit down on her lip, trying to keep from crying further. "Dad."

Peter moved away from the hug and flitted his gaze up, looking at her with eyes that were filled with pain and sorrow. "And I don't know if I can stand to lose anything else."

"Dad…" Georgie cried, bringing her hands to his face. "Dad, no…we won't."

Peter nodded. "Okay, let's…we need to get you to the ER. And then afterward, we can go home to see your mom. She…"

"She didn't come."

Peter shook his head, refusing to meet Georgie's gaze.

"She's been crying this whole time, hasn't she?" Georgie asked, shifting her weight in anticipation of Peter's answer. "Is she alright?"

Peter didn't say anything.

"What…? What is it?" The fear was evidently creeping into Georgie's voice.

"She was going to come, I'm sure of it, but…"

Georgie nodded. "But what…? Is she alright?"

Peter looked up, a blank expression on his face. "Hmm?"

"Dad, is Mom okay?" Georgie repeated, pressing her voice.

Peter looked at her. "Of course. Let's just get you to the hospital."

"No! I'm not going anywhere until you talk to me! I can tell you're hiding something." Georgie stood her ground, refusing to back down.

"She…um, well, they took you away, and Jack and I were coming after you. But then all of a sudden I heard voices, so I turn back and—" Peter broke off, unsure of how to put it in words to Georgie. He knew he needed to be sensitive with this, because this was his child's mother he was talking about. He didn't want to say anything wrong and just completely throw Georgie off course.

"Dad, just come out with it, please."

"It's nothing to worry about, she's alright, but she lost consciousness—"

"Oh my god, Dad!"

"I know, I know, but—"

"What, was it momentary?"

Peter shook his head. "No. She completely blacked out once you left."

The fear settled in Georgie's heart, her breath becoming hitched in her throat. "Seriously, Dad! You should've just led with that! Is she alright? Did you guys call for help?"

"Yeah, of course. Tricia came in."

Georgie exhaled heavily. "She fell unconscious right after I left?"

Peter nodded. "Yeah." His voice came out tight.

"Right after I left…" Georgie muttered to herself in remorse. "But—but she's going to be fine?" She spoke in a louder voice this time, enough for her dad to hear.

Peter nodded. "She's okay." Peter studied Georgie, whose face held so much pain. Georgie looked so pale, her face was void of colour. He put his hands on her shoulders. "Hey, she is _fine_."

"It happened because of me." Georgie choked out, biting down hard on her lip.

"Hey, it didn't. It's not your fault, and you know that."

_Do I, though?_

"Okay, let's take you to the ER first." Peter said, beginning to worry all over again. He started for the exit.

"What—no! Why would I go to the ER?"

Peter stared at her. "Honey, do you not see what they did to you? Your cheek is all bruised up, so is your forehead, and your cuts—they…"

Georgie laughed. "Dad, you know what? I'm fine." She declared like a typical teenager. "Can we just get home? Can we do that?"

Peter sighed. "Georgie, honey—"

"Look, I can't be in that hospital wasting my time when I could be at home with you and Mom. There's nothing the matter with me."

Peter looked at her. "You promise you'll tell me if you sense something's wrong?"

"Sure." Georgie promised half-heartedly.

Even though she could barely see five feet in front of her and her vision was spinning, she still strode ahead. She knew, though, that she had to keep close to Peter if she wanted to make it home on her feet.

* * *

It was almost nine in the morning when Peter and Georgie finally returned to Heartland.

Mitch was waiting in the living room for them, and he stood as he heard the two of them come in. "Georgie…" he looked at her with concern etched in his blue eyes.

"Mitch, is—is my mom okay?"

"Oh, yeah!" Mitch waved away her concern. "She's asleep right now. Why don't you eat something?"

Georgie shook her head. "Wait, what—?" Georgie broke off, suddenly feeling nauseous. She shifted her weight, trying to keep herself up straight. "She's still asleep?"

Mitch nodded. "Yeah, but I'm sure she'll be up soon. Drugs should be wearing off soon."

Georgie nodded. "Okay, can I just wait for Lou to wake up then? I'll be in my room."

Mitch nodded. "Yeah, I'll bring something up for you."

Georgie wanted to stop and ask for details, but she figured it didn't matter at this point. She nodded and headed up the steps to her room.

Once Georgie had gone into her room, Mitch turned his attention to Peter. "Hey, why don't you sit down for a bit? You look wiped out."

"Where's—where's Jack? Tim?"

"They headed out. I think they're at the hospital."

Peter put his fingers to his eyes. "Right, um, I should—I should get ready to go there as well, figure some stuff out. Apparently they still need me to sign off on some things before they can—" Peter broke off, not caring to find the words to finish that sentence.

Mitch exhaled, his breathing ragged. He didn't need to hear Peter say the words because he already understood what Peter had meant to say. "Let me come with you."

Peter looked up. "You're serious?"

Mitch nodded. "Yeah. I don't want you going alone. Whatever it is that needs to be done, I'll come with you to get it done."

Peter nodded. He went quiet for a moment as his eyes welled up, and he held onto the chair at the dining table. "I, uh…" he trailed off, pausing for a little while. "Mitch, I thought I lost them both. I thought—" he broke off, looking down, trying not to fall apart.

Mitch moved ahead, putting a reassuring hand to his shoulder. "I know, but you got Georgie back. It was all just a mistake. A stupid mistake."

"And to think that I believed what they were saying, even for a second."

"No, anyone could've been thrown off by what they said. They said they had _evidence_—they were so sure about everything. Until they weren't."

Peter nodded. "But I thought my daughter was wrong—" he broke off, a wounded sob escaping his lips. "_My daughter."_ Peter gestured to himself as his chest went in and out, his breathing heavy.

Mitch paused a moment. "I know, but she wasn't wrong. It was just a mistake, and now we can move on, focus on what we need to."

Peter nodded again, wordless.

"Come here." Mitch said. He brought Peter close to him, and wrapped an arm around the man's shoulder. "Everything is going to work itself out. And you're not alone, you hear me?"

Peter was so grateful and yet he couldn't find the words to say to Mitch, he couldn't even speak. It was as if he were paralyzed, the words refused to come out.

"I've got you." Mitch reassured, bringing his other arm around to hold onto Peter even tighter.

* * *

Georgie lay in bed, awake. She had tried going to sleep, but her mind wouldn't stop racing. So she rested her head on her pillow and tried to keep her eyes closed. She didn't want this concussion to get any worse, not because she cared of the consequences to herself, but because she didn't have the energy to focus on herself, to care if there was something the matter with her. All she wanted was to take care of Lou, to be there for Peter…make sure they knew she did nothing wrong…

Georgie's heart ached, and she felt empty inside. An angry sense of desperation and helplessness consumed her. She couldn't stop thinking of her sister.

_Katie, baby…_

Georgie shut her eyes tight, trying to block everything out in a vain attempt to forget, to pretend everything was fine. But she suddenly heard voices from downstairs, which were rising in volume. She was sure it was Lou's voice, she couldn't mistake it. What was going on? Georgie bolted out of bed, slipping into her shoes and running down the steps.

Georgie reached the landing, and for some reason, seeing Lou, seeing how absolutely alone and afraid she looked made Georgie's heart drop down into her stomach. "Mom!"

Lou spun around, and the way her expression changed made it seem like a huge metal weight had just been lifted from her chest. She exhaled heavily, walking toward the steps, reaching for the handrail. Georgie's presence brought a sense of peace and calmness to Lou's heart and she was now suddenly able to breathe.

"Georgie…" Lou had so much she wanted to and needed to say, but she could barely get any of the words out. "Honey…"

Georgie quickly came down and stopped on the first step.

Without giving her the chance to speak, Lou quickly brought her daughter against her and hugged her as tight as her weak frame would allow her at this time. "What did they do to you? Did—did they hurt you?" Lou could barely speak, her voice came out so quiet.

"No, why would they?" Georgie shrugged everything off as if she hadn't been utterly terrified in the past twelve or so hours.

"Last night, in front of me, they slammed you down to the ground…twice."

Georgie's jaw clenched up, and she sucked in her breath. She wanted to be surprised that Lou had noticed what they did both times, but Georgie knew better than to think her mother's eyes hadn't been glued to the scene the entire time.

Lou moved back and reached her hand out and stroked Georgie's forehead with her thumb. "Are you okay?"

Georgie brought Lou's hand down from where it rested on her face and she kissed it. "Let's get you inside. You shouldn't even be standing."

"Georgie—" Lou tried to get her to stop and listen to her.

But Georgie wouldn't listen. She led her mother by the hand back toward her room.

Once Georgie was sure Lou was comfortable, she sat down at her mom's bedside. But Lou seemed anxious, agitated. "Hey, what is it?"

Lou held onto Georgie's hand. "They're going to take you away from me, and—and I can't let them. I can't lose you too. Not now, not after—"

"Mom, they dropped the charges." She said quickly, cutting Lou off before she could go even further.

Lou stopped and looked at her, holding her breath. "You're serious?"

Georgie nodded.

She exhaled, her breathing coming out all jagged. "They—they dropped the charges…"

"You're not going to ask why?"

"I've got you back, that's all I care about…" Lou let out, her voice barely a whisper.

Georgie wrapped Lou in a loving embrace, planting a kiss on her mother's hair.

"I really thought I had lost you." Lou shook against Georgie, sobbing soundlessly.

_That wouldn't be the worst thing in the world,_ Georgie wanted to blurt out, but she held her tongue. Georgie wrapped her arms tighter around Lou, trying to put the broken pieces back together, but in vain, because she knew…she knew she could never fix this, no matter how hard she tried.

* * *

**A/N: Hopefully this third instalment wasn't too shabby ;) Thank you for the lovely reviews, they really do make me smile! And yes, Georgie was innocent! There is always more to see than what meets the eye...**

**I'm actually super excited about this story. You may or may not have noticed that the pacing and the narrative is a little different from my other story's, so I was a little worried about how it would turn out, but I think so far so good...fingers crossed :D**


	4. Chapter 4

Georgie lay in bed beside Lou, a hand resting on her stomach. She turned her head to look at her mother, but Lou just seemed completely off. She lay on her side, facing toward Georgie.

"Mom?" Georgie turned on her side as well, facing her mother. She reached out to adjust the blanket that was reaching up to Lou's waist.

There was silence from Lou.

"Mom, did you hear me?" Georgie questioned, worried Lou was lost in her thoughts. Georgie's suspicions were confirmed when she didn't get an answer. The girl placed a hand to her mother's hair, stroking it with a gentle touch. "Mom…?"

Lou finally seemed to snap back to reality. "Hmm?"

Now that she had Lou's attention, Georgie wasn't really sure what she had even wanted to say to her. It was her turn to be silent.

"What happened once you arrived at the precinct?" Lou spoke after a few moments.

"Mom, come on…just forget it."

"How do you expect me to forget this? You don't think I saw how roughly they handled you last night—in front of me? If they treated you like that in front of your mother—"

"Hey, it's fine." Georgie moved to stroke Lou's hair with her gentle touch. "They didn't even touch me."

"From the way they'd handled you, I was sure that they would—"

"Mom, hey…I'm telling you. They didn't touch me. And that's enough talking, you need to rest."

Lou exhaled as she fell silent.

In fact, they both became very quiet for a long time. If Katie had been here, there would have been absolute zero silence. Her and Lou would have been up to something, maybe baking, or getting ready to go out into town to shop, or about to head into Maggie's.

Georgie knew if she stayed here and kept thinking, she'd reduce herself to tears. And she couldn't, not in front of Lou. But before she could move to do or say something, Lou spoke.

"Where's Mitch? Your dad?"

"I don't know." Georgie answered quickly. "They didn't say."

"Georgie…"

"I'm, uh…I'm going to get you something from the kitchen, okay?" Georgie sat up, facing away from Lou.

"No, wait."

Georgie stopped, but she didn't turn back to look at Lou.

"What happened with Katie…?"

Georgie turned her head back a little.

"Right before she…"

"Mom…" Georgie spoke with a piercing tone in her voice. She could physically feel her chest tightening up, suddenly ridding her of the ability to breathe.

"I've been too afraid to ask, but…_please, _I need to know_._"

"I…um—" Georgie paused, exhaling, trying not to fall apart herself. "I can't."

"I will never ask you again, just please…"

Lou's voice came out quiet, but Georgie could sense she was on the verge and the tears were close to falling.

Georgie relented. "I held her. Really close, and I…I kept her safe. She was safe in my arms, and I told her I loved her. I told her that you loved her and that Dad loved her. So she knew…that she was loved, wanted, that she meant the world to us. I told her we all loved her so much, I told her again and again…" Georgie trailed off, lost in thought.

_And I told her she would be okay, that I was going to get her to a hospital…but before any help could arrive, she was gone. I lost her before I could even try to save her._

* * *

Georgie stayed with Lou for the next hour or so, until Mitch and Peter returned.

As Mitch walked into the room, the sight that met his eyes shattered his heart, propelling him to want to protect Lou. He immediately came and sat beside her, calling out her name.

When she realized Mitch was here, Lou gently moved from Georgie's arms and turned to Mitch, allowing him to embrace her.

Georgie was in agony, and her head was spinning as she stood from the bed and left the room, leaving her mother behind, who she knew didn't even need her.

The one thing Lou needed, her baby…she would never get back. And Georgie knew that her mom had Mitch, who made it his priority to protect Lou from everything, who made sure she was okay and was always there for her when she needed a shoulder to cry on…quite literally right now. So no, Lou didn't need Georgie.

And as much as that thought made Georgie want to scream into the void, she was also relieved to be out of the way…because it meant now she wouldn't have to listen to Lou suffering and crying tormentingly. The last hour or so had been nothing but torture for Georgie. Georgie hated herself for having said anything about Katie. What had she been thinking?

Georgie found herself in front of Peter when she arrived in the kitchen. Looking at him now, it hit her just how broken and empty he looked. This was a man who had lost his daughter, the daughter he doted over, the daughter that had meant _everything_ to him, because when he had lost everything else, he still had her. Until now, because Georgie hadn't been able to protect her.

Now he had nothing.

"Dad…" Georgie began, wanting to fold her hands together and beg forgiveness. She wanted, no…she _needed_ Peter to tell her he loved her just as much, that he was so thankful he still had her even after everything else had been lost.

Peter walked over to her, placing a hand to the side of her head, cradling it lovingly. He kissed her hair, bringing her in for a hug.

And though momentary, being held in her father's arms made her feel so incredibly safe, like she would always be okay, like she could still stand to find happiness…

"Dad…" Georgie said again, her voice shattering like glass. She shook against Peter, sobs escaping her with a great force that made her jolt and shudder with every breath she took.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for the encouraging reviews! Reading them makes me feel like an accomplished author ;) obviously I'm only kidding, but besides that - you all are amazing! Thank you for reading! :)**


	5. Chapter 5

Later that evening, Georgie was in the kitchen, attempting to make something so that people at home would eat. Because she wasn't sure if anyone had, and she knew that Lou especially hadn't. Georgie had no idea where she would begin, but eventually, with Peter's help, she was good to go.

After quite a while of standing, though, Georgie sensed the ringing in her ears get louder and more intense. She moved back from the counter to see Peter who was at the fridge, putting some things away. Her head was spinning and she could barely keep up straight. Georgie reached for the chair at the roundtable and she fell into the seat.

She exhaled, putting her head in her hand.

"You okay?" Peter asked her.

"Yeah, yeah…I'm just tired. I barely got any sleep last night."

Peter looked at her, worried. "Honey, you know that if—"

"If I sense something wrong, I will tell you." Georgie finished for him. "Well, I'm just tired."

"Okay, you're tired. Why don't you go to bed then?"

"I can't sleep. I need to…" Georgie trailed off, gesturing to the stove.

"I can take care of that."

Georgie nodded. "Okay."

She stood, but instead of walking to her room, Georgie headed toward the mudroom.

"Now where are you going?"

"Out. I'll—um, I'll text you if I'm going to be a while."

"Georgie, come on."

"I just need some air."

* * *

As Georgie walked into the yard, she sighed at the relief that the sun wasn't out anymore, because the light would have bothered her had she come out earlier on in the day.

Just as she reached the gate, she saw a truck driving onto the property. Georgie wasn't sure if it was really her, or if she was just imagining things. "Jade?"

When Jade really did arrive, she quickly got out of the vehicle and walked toward her friend. "Georgie…" she breathed out, hugging her fiercely.

Jade didn't let go for a long time, and even once she did let go, she still held Georgie by her arm. "I didn't know. Or else I would have been here."

Georgie nodded. "I know. I'm just glad you're here now."

"Yeah."

Georgie exhaled. "Um, can—can we…sit? Over there…I'm kind of dizzy. Maybe on the steps?"

"Yeah. Yeah, sure." Jade said hurriedly.

Once they had sat down, Jade turned and looked over at her friend. "Hey, how's Lou?"

Georgie shrugged. "I have never seen her cry so much…she just won't stop."

Jade nodded. "Yeah…well, it's a given. Just don't freak out about it, okay? Give her some time, and…she'll be fine."

"I really hope so."

After a pause, "Are you okay?"

Georgie looked at her friend.

"My mom told me what happened last night, with the police."

Georgie turned her gaze in front of her, avoiding eye contact with Jade.

"Georgie, please. Talk to me, and tell me what the hell happened to you. What did they do to you?"

"Why does everyone keep asking me that?" Georgie let out, flustered.

"Have you seen your face?"

"Thanks."

"That's not what I meant, and you know that. But seriously, whose ass do I need to kick?"

Georgie smiled a little. "Nobody's, because they were policemen. They were just doing their job."

Jade inhaled sharply. "Tell me what happened. What did they say?"

"I didn't do anything wrong." Georgie said suddenly, defensively. There was a vulnerable look about her.

"Well duh, I know you didn't."

Georgie nodded, relieved. "Yeah, so they came into the house. Told me I had apparently been speeding…That it was my fault that my sister was dead." Georgie exhaled, putting her hand through her hair. "Oh god, they said all that in front of my parents, and I couldn't even shut them up."

Jade turned her head toward Georgie. "How could they just blame you? It wasn't your fault."

Georgie shrugged a shoulder. "And then they let me go, saying there had been a mistake, that they had no real evidence. Apparently something was wrong with their traffic machines that day."

Jade listened in quietly.

"I mean, they let me go, and I should be relieved, but I almost feel worse. I feel like I should still be in there."

Jade scoffed. "Why would you think that?"

There was silence on Georgie's end for a while. She seemed to be gathering her thoughts, trying to make sense of everything that was going through her mind. "I don't know, I guess it was easier to be locked away rather than coming home and facing everything head on. I almost felt at peace in there, like that's where I belonged."

"Georgie, are you kidding me?"

Georgie didn't say anything.

Jade was agitated, and she felt like blowing up. She didn't necessarily know who she wanted to yell at, but she knew she wanted to yell. She inhaled deeply, trying to keep herself calm. "Okay, but seriously, what happened to your face?"

"All this…" she gestured to her face. "It happened during the accident, and then when they were arresting me, in front of my parents…"

"So I do need to kick their asses."

Georgie was lost in thought, a troubled look in her eyes. "You know, I knew I did nothing wrong, but just the way that everything played out, the way they looked at me, the way they handled me…I felt like a criminal."

"But you're not, and they were wrong to arrest you. You did nothing wrong."

_Then why does it still feel like I did?_ "I wish it had been me. I wish I had been the one that died."

"Georgie—"

"Everytime I look at my parents, everytime I see my mom crying, or I see my dad lost in his thoughts…I wish I could somehow just trade places with Katie and bring her back to them."

Jade turned to look at the door behind them. "Georgie, just…hush. What if your parents hear you?"

Georgie groaned. She shifted her weight, a hand travelling to her mouth.

"What?" Jade's voice came out stiff. "What's wrong?" When Georgie didn't say anything, Jade asked, "Did you get checked out yet?"

Georgie nodded, her hand still at her mouth. "At the crash site."

"What about after last night?"

Georgie shook her head.

"Okay, then we need to get you to the hospital." Jade decided.

"No…" Georgie sucked in her breath. "I'm fine."

"Oh, you are, are you?" Jade asked sarcastically.

Georgie exhaled. "Jade, just let this go. Please."

"Why? So you can continue being stupid and then eventually get yourself killed?"

"What if that's what I want?"

Jade scoffed. "I don't give a damn what you want. Let's go."

"What—? No, I'm not going anywhere."

"If you don't get in my truck right now, I'm going to go tell your dad, and I'm pretty sure that's not what anyone needs right now."

"Jade, I can barely walk, how am I going to—"

"What, get to my truck? Just lean on me, this isn't rocket science!" Jade burst out, scolding her friend.

"Okay, okay. Would you at least stop yelling?"

Jade relented. "Okay, I'm sorry. You just don't listen sometimes."

"Fine, help me up."

Jade was relieved, and she quickly stood to extend an arm for Georgie to grab onto and she then moved to hold onto Georgie's other hand.

Once Georgie had stood, she said, "Just don't tell my parents. Please."

"Yeah, yeah. Let's go." Jade said as she put a hand to Georgie's back and led her toward the truck.

* * *

At dinner, Mitch and Lou made their way out into the living room to join Peter.

Peter was relieved that she had even come out, he'd been worried she would refuse the invitation and stay in her room.

"Where's Georgie?" Lou asked right away.

"Georgie texted me saying she was with Jade."

"Where did they go?"

"You know, I'm not too sure. But I'll call her in a bit. You should eat first."

After a little while, once he was sure the other two had eaten properly, Peter stood and walked over to the kitchen where his phone was. He picked it up, and dialled Georgie's number.

Much to his relief, Georgie answered almost right away.

"Georgie, honey, where are you?"

But it wasn't Georgie on the other end. It was her friend. "Peter, it's Jade."

Peter swallowed. What was going on? "Jade, where's—where's Georgie?"

"I brought her to the hospital to get her checked out, and she's inside right now, getting some tests done, but she should be out soon."

Peter tried his best not to react, because he was sure that everyone was listening in as well. "Okay, so how long do you think it'll be before she comes home?"

"I'm honestly not too sure. I think they're going to keep her here overnight."

"Wait, how come? Why—"

"I don't know, they said that they didn't want to take any risks."

Peter inhaled sharply. "But she's going to be okay?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Okay, thanks Jade. Lou and I are coming now. Just text me the floor and room number."

"I will."

Once Peter was off the call, he turned to Lou, who had already stood and was walking toward him.

"What is it…?" Fear crept into her voice, desperation clawing at her chest.

"Our daughter's at the hospital. Jade apparently took her in to get checked out, and they're running some tests right now."

"Tests?"

Peter nodded.

"Well, is she okay?"

"She is. It's just some tests, Lou."

Lou exhaled. "Okay, okay. Let's go. I'll just be a minute."

* * *

Jade sat at Georgie's bedside, fiddling with her fingers.

Georgie was leaning against a couple of pillows, not entirely lying down, but not exactly sitting up either. She turned her head as she said, "What's with you?"

"Nothing. Would you just rest your eyes for a minute?"

Had Jade called her parents? Is that why she was so agitated? "Jade, what did you do?"

Jade stopped fidgeting, and looked at Georgie. "I could ask you the same thing."

Georgie looked at her, furrowing her brow.

"Just hush, and get some rest."

"No, what is it?"

"How long were you planning on keeping this up? Pretending that you were fine when you obviously weren't. Why do you always do this?" Jade accused her.

Georgie exhaled, her head hitting the pillow. "Okay, I'm sorry I wasted your time. You can go if you want."

"Wasted my time? Are you kidding me?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that."

Jade looked at her. "Look, I'm worried about you, okay? And the way you don't care about what's happened to you, what could have happened…I just don't get it."

"Jade—"

"No, don't even try to justify it because there is no proper justification for this! Do you have any idea how close you were to danger, how dangerous all of this could have been had we not come in today?"

"Well, we did come in, and I'm fine!"

Jade clenched her jaw, trying to keep her tears at bay. "And if we hadn't?" She demanded.

"Then any number of things could have happened. Things that I don't care to repeat in front of you, because if I do, then you're just going to yell at me again."

Jade exhaled heavily, but before she could say anything, the door to Georgie's hospital room opened.

When Georgie's parents appeared in the doorway, she immediately turned to Jade, the look on her face accusatory.

"Don't look at me. You're the one who left your phone with me." Jade defended.

"Georgie." Lou strode ahead in front of Peter and walked over to Georgie's bedside. She fell into the space that Georgie wasn't occupying. "Honey, are you okay?"

"Why are you guys here?"

Lou was taken aback by her words. "Georgie, what kind of a question is that?" When her daughter refused to meet her gaze, Lou moved a hand to Georgie's hair. "Sweetie, look at me."

Georgie bit down on her lip, and she turned her head a little to the side. "You didn't have to come all the way here."

Lou looked toward Peter, her eyes filled with yearning and a need for Georgie to stop giving her the cold shoulder.

Peter looked back at her, desperately wishing he could offer her some sort of encouragement. He spoke to Georgie, going to bat for Lou. "Honey, you should have called us."

"I didn't want to bother you."

"Georgie—" Peter began.

"This is stupid. There's nothing even the matter with me. Why can't we just go home?"

"They need to keep you here overnight, just to be safe." Peter answered back.

"Okay, fine, then you guys should go."

Lou was trying to understand why Georgie was being so adamant about their going home. Unable to wrap her head around it, she simply answered, "We're not going anywhere until you come home with us."

Lou watched as Georgie kept her gaze low. She seemed to be holding her breath, and the muscles in her face were tensed up. "I'm sorry…" Georgie whispered, a heavy look in her eyes.

Lou exhaled, stroking Georgie's hair. "You have nothing to be sorry about. We're just so glad you're okay."

Maybe it was the smile in Lou's voice, or the way she stroked Georgie's hair lovingly, but Lou watched as Georgie was suddenly reduced to tears. The girl whimpered as she reached for Lou's hand, needing the comfort of her mother's touch.

Lou's heart squeezed painfully in watching her daughter shatter to pieces, and she quickly leaned forward to kiss Georgie's forehead. "We love you."

Afraid that Lou would move away, Georgie quickly brought her arms around her mom's shoulders and hugged her fiercely.

"Oh…" Lou breathed out as she realized what was happening. "Oh, honey." Lou brought her arms tighter around Georgie, stroking her hair reassuringly.

"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry…" Georgie repeated as she felt the tears track down her face.

"It's okay, it's all okay. Just don't cry, honey."

But that only made Georgie cry harder, and she buried her face in her mom's hair. She feared that once Lou let go, it would be a while before she would be held like this again. So Georgie refused to let go.

* * *

**A/N: Hellooo, so I was scanning chapter four today to make sure I had formatted everything properly, not made any weird spelling mistakes... and I realized how short it was xD it took me a while to write it (because I kept redoing some of the dialogue and whatnot) so I thought it would take a while to read but it was so dang short! Hopefully this one made up for that hahah. **

**And again, thanks for reading and for the encouragement!**


	6. Chapter 6

Georgie's head had begun spinning and she feared getting dizzy or something going wrong in front of her parents so she lay completely still. She watched on as Lou sat beside her. Georgie noticed how red Lou's eyes were, how worn out she was. As Georgie stared at her mother, the devastating realization dawned on her that this woman had just lost everything, and she was going to be broken for a very long time, possibly forever.

Lou looked at Georgie, and she saw how heavy her eyes were. It seemed she could barely keep them open. Lou's heart broke seeing her daughter like this, and to add to that, her heart trembled in fear thinking of what could have happened to her had she not arrived at the hospital with her friend, or still what could remain to happen.

After everything she had lost, Lou was thankful that Georgie was okay, that one of her daughters came away from the accident relatively unscathed. Had something happened to Georgie as well, Lou would have lost her entire reason for being.

"Lou? Do you want to lean back into the chair?" Jade asked worriedly, wanted to offer Lou some comfort.

"I'm fine right here." Lou breathed out in a whisper, keeping her eyes on Georgie. Almost in a daze, Lou reached for Georgie's hand. Was this real? Was Georgie really still here, right in front of her?

Lou exhaled, suddenly realizing just how much her throat was hurting. As Lou stared down at her daughter's hand, she noticed the bruising on her wrist. "Georgie…" Lou breathed out, sensing the tears building up again.

Georgie moved her gaze to her hand to see her mother's fingers lightly caressing her wrist. "Mom, please. It's _fine_."

"You told me they didn't hurt you."

Georgie's breath hitched in her throat. "And I was telling you the truth. They didn't."

"Then—then what is this? How did—?"

"When they arrested me, I resisted. And during all that, this happened. It's my fault."

Lou stared at her, a wild look in her eyes. "You're hiding something. Did something else happen?"

"No, I'm not—nothing even happened."

"Georgie, just spit it out. What is it?" Jade piped in, curious.

Georgie exhaled. "Look, I'm exhausted. Can I just rest my eyes for a little while?"

Lou looked over at Jade, who sensed that her friend's mother was trying to tell her to press on, and that she needed her to back her up. Jade turned to Georgie. "Just tell us, and then you can go to sleep."

Georgie groaned. "There's nothing to tell. I fainted once they took me out of the house, and then…the next thing I know, I was in the back of their car and we were arriving on the main road, on the way to the precinct. I literally have nothing to tell you!"

"You fainted?" Lou's voice faltered. "And they didn't do anything about it? How long did this go on for?"

"I don't know, to be honest."

"Does your doctor know that you had fainting spells?" Jade asked. "You told him, right?"

"Mm." Georgie made an indifferent sound, avoiding eye contact. "Look, the whole night was a complete blur. Some things I remember, and some I just don't…so if they did something, I wouldn't know."

Lou let out a staggering breath.

"There doesn't seem to be any mark on you. I don't think they hurt you." Jade sounded hopeful.

"I know. I don't think they did." Georgie directed the last part toward Lou, who looked up at her.

Peter moved forward in his seat. "How bad are her wrists?"

Lou looked down at her daughter's hand. "The bruising is just so deep. But there's no cuts…" Lou said as she stood, grabbing onto the frame at the foot of the bed, making her way out of the room.

"Lou!" Peter called after Lou as he followed her out the door.

Out in the hall, Peter caught up to her and reached for her arm, stopping her. "Lou! Where are you going?"

Lou turned around to face him, obviously rattled and disheveled. Her mind seemed to be elsewhere altogether. She shook her head, trying to gather her thoughts. "Peter, you heard her in there! She—she—"

"Look, she's fine. The doctors are doing their job. They did a bunch of those tests already, and—"

"Peter, sometimes head injuries take time to manifest into actual, physical problems. So yes, she may have been fine before, she may even be fine right now, but what about later tonight? What about tomorrow morning?"

"But you heard her in there—"

"No, no, do you not see what's happening here? She didn't say anything to us all day, and she only now said something because we forced it out of her. Peter, please…"

Peter stared at her, his jaw set back, his eyes filled with fear.

"_I can't lose her."_

Peter inhaled, trying his best to keep his tears at bay. "You won't—" he let out a desperate attempt to make Lou and himself feel better.

"Anything could happen at any minute, and—"

"Lou…" Peter exhaled, his hand at his forehead.

"We just need to—" Lou began, putting a hand to the wall. "I'm going to go find her doctor. He needs to know that—" She broke off, and began to walk away from Peter.

The man followed, making his way in front of her. "Look, I'll go track him down, and tell him what happened last night."

"Peter—"

"You go back to Georgie. She needs her mother right now."

Lou looked up at him, fear and foreboding in her eyes. She looked drained, almost to the point of collapsing. And yet she stood, she was just strong enough. Because she had to be.

"You go in there, I'll be back as soon as I can."

Lou nodded, but stood there a moment and watched as Peter disappeared around the corner. She grabbed onto the wall again, leaning her back to it this time. She drew her breath in, and walked back to Georgie's door. She was about to head in, but stopped.

The voices on the other side of the door sounded like they were arguing. Georgie was saying something to her friend, but Lou couldn't quite make it out. So she craned her neck, putting her ear close to the door.

"I never should've let you talk me into coming here. Now my parents are here and—and they're going to make damn sure that the doctors know everything and do everything…"

"Yeah, Georgie, because they're your parents!" Jade shot back. "They love you, they're trying to keep you _alive_."

"Well, I don't want to be!"

"Georgie, I thought you were joking back at the house, but—"

"What made you think that I was joking? About any of this!?"

There seemed to be a pause, and Lou wasn't sure if it was just her or they had really stopped talking. She thought to head in, but then Georgie began to speak.

"Jade, I…" Georgie exhaled. "I stole their baby away from them. She meant the world to them, and she's…I can't believe it, but she's _gone_. And I'm still here, when I shouldn't be. I should be dead!" Georgie's voice rose, and her tone sharpened.

"No…" Jade tried to stop Georgie from saying anything else.

"If you hadn't brought me here today, I would've been—You just had to bring me in, didn't you?"

"Georgie, please. I did what I had to do—" Jade broke off as the doorknob turned.

Lou appeared in the doorway and walked over to the foot of Georgie's bed. Placing her hands on the bed frame, Lou tried to smile. "Your dad's gone to find your doctor, and he said he'll be back soon, try to figure all of this out."

When Lou walked in, it was clear to Georgie that her mother had been crying. Lou could hide it from the world, but Georgie could always see through any facade her mother put up.

"Uh—Lou." Jade began. "Why don't you pull up a chair and sit beside Georgie? Actually, here." Jade moved away from her chair and motioned for Lou to take the seat. "Take my spot, I'm going to go find Peter. Do you know which way he was headed?"

Lou nodded. "Toward the left corridor."

Jade smiled. "Okay."

Once Jade had left the room, and Lou was seated at her daughter's bedside, Georgie turned to look at her mother. "Mom."

Lou looked back at her. She didn't want to believe that Georgie would purposely sabotage herself and try to make herself even more sick, but…after what she had just heard, there was no way Lou could shake that. Lou could feel her eyes welling up, and when she went to blink the tears away, they slipped down onto her cheeks and rolled down her face. "Georgie…" Lou breathed out, her voice aghast.

Georgie sighed tightly, shifting her head so that she was looking up at the ceiling. There was obviously nothing to see up there, but Georgie just couldn't bear to see the tears in her mother's eyes. "Mom, please stop crying. You've done enough of that already."

Lou wiped her tears away and placed a hand at her mouth, trying to hold herself together. But her quiet sobbing made itself known, and although she was in an incredible amount of pain, Lou fought through. For Georgie.

"Baby, listen to me…" Lou spoke, her voice breaking. "I need you to take this seriously. Anything you're holding back, anything at all…I need you to tell me. Or if you don't want me to know—" Lou broke off, inhaling sharply. "Then make sure you tell your doctor. It's him you need to tell."

"Mom, there's nothing—"

"_I'm begging you. Please take this seriously."_

A wry laugh escaped Georgie's lips. "Nothing's going to happen to me. Don't worry about it."

Georgie's underlying tone held a certain bitterness and anger that shook Lou to her very core. "Honey—"

Georgie finally turned and looked to Lou, waiting for her to continue, but her mother said nothing afterward. She saw her mother's tears glistening in her eyes, and Georgie's first instinct was to reach out and dry her tears. But she was worried that if she moved, something would go wrong with her head, and she didn't want to look weak in front of Lou. So she simply placed her hand on top of her mother's.

"I love you, honey. I love you so much. I need you to be okay."

Georgie scoffed softly, suddenly realizing that that was exactly what she had wanted to hear. Somehow her mother had known exactly what Georgie needed from her. Georgie softened her tone, saying, "I love you. And I'm right here, I'm fine."


	7. Chapter 7

Waiting for Jade and Peter to come back with news on Georgie was absolute agony. Part of Lou wanted to get up and go find them herself and figure out what was going on, but the other part of her knew she had to stay in here with Georgie.

Lou looked over at her daughter, who had closed her eyes for the time-being. Lou knew she wasn't asleep, though. She could tell by how tense the muscles in her face were. Lou wondered what was going through her mind at this moment, and she desperately wanted to ask. But she held her tongue as she figured that Georgie needed some quiet time.

Once Jade came in through the door, Lou nervously stood, placing a hand on the mattress in front of her. "So?"

Jade smiled, looking from Lou to Georgie. "Um, so the scans came back—apparently they rushed her labs—and so far, everything's okay. But obviously she did get hurt, and so they're recommending lots of rest and they're giving you these meds…" Jade turned her full attention to Georgie. "Blood thinners, you know, to relieve the pressure in your brain and to avoid any clots."

"So she's okay?" Lou asked for confirmation, her voice tense.

Jade nodded. "Yeah, she is."

Lou exhaled, sitting back down in the chair. "Okay, okay…"

"Did he say when I can go home?" Georgie asked what was clearly her first priority.

"I think he said something about tomorrow afternoon." Jade said hesitantly, worried about Georgie's reaction. "But I can't say for sure, I was pretty much out of the room by the time they came around to talking about discharging you."

Georgie nodded.

"Sweetheart." Lou called out quietly. "Go to sleep, alright? It's already past midnight, and—"

"I can't sleep. Every time I close my eyes, all I can see is—"

"Georgie." Jade stopped her, averting her eyes to Lou, warningly.

Silence ensued, and Georgie turned her face away from Lou, who she feared would begin crying or whatnot. _Oh God, no…why the hell did I have to say that?_

Thankfully, Peter came in almost right away. Just like Jade, he was smiling as he walked over to Georgie. Placing a hand to her arm, he leaned down and kissed her hair as gently as he could. "We're going to be taking you home tomorrow, alright?"

"Do we have to stay here tonight?"

"Yeah, we do. That one's non-negotiable."

* * *

Once Georgie had eventually fallen asleep, Peter had slipped out of the room to stretch his legs.

Lou turned to Jade, who was sitting in the chair beside her. "Jade, I wanted to thank you…" Lou began, trying to collect her thoughts. "For bringing Georgie here, _and_ for staying."

"Oh." Jade was surprised. "You don't need to thank me for this, I just did what I had to do for my friend."

"Because if you hadn't brought her in when you did, I don't know how today would have played out."

Jade nodded. "But we don't need to think about that anymore. She'll be alright."

"Yeah, but the way she's been acting…"

Jade's head immediately turned toward Lou. "What…? What do you mean?"

"I don't know, it's like she's—she's afraid of looking me in the eye."

Jade swallowed. "Do you think you're reading into this a little too much?"

Lou shook her head. "I don't know…"

Jade exhaled, putting her hand through her hair. "I'll, uh…I'll talk to her, I promise."

Lou simply nodded, unsure of what to say at this point. She turned to look over at Georgie, who was fast asleep. She seemed at peace, and she seemed comfortable.

Jade moved toward the edge of her seat. "Do you need anything? I can get you a coffee, or—"

"No, I'm fine." Lou said immediately. "I'm just going to stay here with Georgie, I don't—I don't need anything."

Jade moved her gaze around the room, and spotted the water bottles on the table at the far end of the room. She stood and went to grab two of the bottles, and when she returned she held one out for Lou. "Here, at least have some water."

Lou inhaled deeply as she shook her head. "No, it's fine."

Jade placed the bottle of water by Lou's chair, just in case she changed her mind.

Jade silently reflected to herself. How had Lou been able to keep herself together for so many hours? Maybe she was still partly in shock, or maybe she was desperately holding herself together for Georgie's sake. _How's she doing this…?_

Jade wanted to reach out, to say something, but she didn't know what she would even say. There wasn't much she _could_ say or do, except be there, right?

* * *

The next day at around noon, Georgie was discharged. Her mom had kept her close to her as they had walked out of the building and found their way to the parking lot.

Jade had decided to drive over to Heartland as well, and so she said she'd follow close behind Lou's SUV.

Upon arriving at home, Georgie got out of the truck, grabbing onto the door of the vehicle for balance. Peter quickly came around from the driver's side to help her, and then they all headed in.

Walking into the house, Georgie saw Mitch greet Peter, and he then went on to say hi to his wife.

As Mitch's arms went around her, Lou leaned heavily into him. "She's okay." Lou whispered in a sharp and piercing voice, grabbing onto him just a little bit tighter.

"Yeah, I know." Mitch soothed, stroking Lou's hair. He felt her lean into him and bring her arms around him tighter.

Once Georgie had taken off her shoes, she moved past Lou and Mitch and into the living room. She stared at the furniture, at the floor and ceiling, realizing how empty everything looked despite being filled with so much. It just _felt _empty. Or maybe it wasn't the house, maybe it was her that felt empty. How were any of them going to get through the rest of their lives feeling like this? Georgie shuddered at the thought.

"Hey, kiddo. Are you feeling okay?"

She turned as she heard Mitch's voice call out to her. "Hmm? Yeah, yeah…"

Lou walked ahead. "Why don't you go into Amy's old room? That way you won't have to take the stairs everytime you need something."

"Amy's old room? No, no…I'm fine in my own room."

"Georgie—" Lou began.

"I'm just going to go upstairs." Georgie interrupted, announcing her final decision.

Jade moved into the living room. "Okay, I'll come up with you."

Georgie didn't say anything as she headed up the steps, with Jade close behind.

Once they were upstairs, Jade asked, "What's wrong with Amy's room?"

Georgie sat down on the bed, and leaned back on the frame. "It's the room right beside my mom's."

"Okay, and?"

Georgie didn't say anything.

Jade decided to let it be and moved on to helping Georgie get comfortable. "Okay, so Peter told me to make sure I get these to you. Your meds…" Jade placed the paper bag onto Georgie's side table. "And you need to take the next dose at two o'clock, okay?"

Georgie nodded.

"Okay, do you need anything?"

Georgie simply shook her head. "But could you just sit here for a while?"

"Yeah. Yeah, of course."

* * *

When it came time for dinner, Peter brought something up for the two girls. When he arrived upstairs, Georgie was laying in bed, staring at the ceiling, and Jade was seated at her friend's desk, working on something with Georgie's laptop.

"Hey, you two need to eat." Peter came and placed the tray on the trunk at the foot of the bed.

Georgie turned toward her dad. "Have you eaten?"

"No, but we're all about to sit down at the table. I figured you should probably stay up here, you shouldn't move around too much."

Georgie pursed her lips. "Where's Lou?"

Peter stopped for a second. "What do you mean—she's downstairs, where else would she be?"

Georgie looked at him. "Nothing, I just asked a question. She hasn't come up all day, that's all."

Peter nodded.

"I would come down, but…I just have no idea what's going on down there, if she'll even want to see me."

"Of course she wants to see you. She probably figured you were resting."

"Okay, yeah."

Peter smiled a little. "You text me if you need anything."

* * *

The next few days went by pretty much the same. Jade had been sleeping over to keep Georgie company, and she volunteered to help with cooking and tasks around the household. It was the least she could do.

One afternoon a couple days after Georgie had returned from the hospital, Jade had stepped out on a grocery run. Georgie was sitting there, alone in her room when she finally decided to go downstairs. For more than just to go to the bathroom.

As she arrived on the landing, Georgie sensed just how quiet everything was. Jack had apparently stepped out with Peter, and the two of them were in town attending to something.

Walking into the living room, she heard faint voices coming from the direction of her mother's room. She walked a little closer, trying to get a better sense of what was going on.

"Lou, come on. How long are you going to keep this up?"

That was Mitch's voice. Definitely.

He continued. "What am I going to tell Georgie when she asks what's going on with you? What do I tell her?"

"Mitch, I just don't want this. Why don't you get it?"

Lou's voice sounded shaky and worn down, like she'd been crying for who knows how long.

Mitch inhaled sharply. "Look, it doesn't have to be much. Just eat a little bit."

"I don't want anything."

"Please, you need to take care of yourself."

"For what? What's the point?"

Georgie felt her throat close up, her breathing becoming hitched. As she walked even closer, she placed a hand to the doorframe. Bringing her other hand up, she knocked quietly.

"Come in." Mitch called out.

Georgie slid the door open, stepping inside. The room was almost completely dark. The curtains were closed, and the lights were out. _Oh God, oh no… _

Concern etched on his face, Mitch asked, "What's wrong?"

Georgie shook her head. "Nothing. Is everything okay here?"

Mitch nodded toward the side table. There was a plate of food that was completely untouched.

Georgie swallowed, feeling completely dumbfounded. What was going on? And how had she been completely unaware? Why hadn't Jade told her anything? "Oh," she whispered quietly. She finally looked over at Lou. She was under the covers, and in her hand she held a tissue. Her cheeks were red, and her eyes were puffy.

Mitch turned his attention to Lou again. "I'm going to go check on the dude ranch. There were guests coming in today."

Lou barely looked toward him.

"And when I get back, I expect you to have actually eaten something, alright?" He leaned forward and kissed her forehead. "I'll be back soon."

Georgie's heart began to race as Mitch stood and walked out of the room. Her legs seemed to be glued to the floor and she couldn't move, so she just stood there. She finally heard the front door open and close.

After what seemed like an eternity, Georgie heard herself exhale and she felt her legs move toward the bed. She sat down, but didn't completely face toward Lou. Georgie looked down at her hands and sucked in her breath, trying to find the courage to say something to her mom.

"Why haven't you—why won't you eat…?"

It took Lou a while to say something, but when she finally did, it came out really quiet.

Georgie turned to look at Lou, completely unaware of what she had just said. _What do I say now?_ "Could you sit up? Please?" Georgie turned in her spot, reaching out a hand to her mother's arm.

Georgie's touch seemed to bring Lou back to reality, realization settling in her eyes that Georgie was calling out to her.

"Mom? Could you sit up?" Georgie asked again, pressing her voice. "When was the last time you ate?"

"... I don't know."

"Okay, let's get you up."

"No, no…"

"But you need to eat."

"Georgie…" Lou breathed out.

The girl reached out a hand to Lou's hair and planted a kiss on her mom's temple. "Come on, sit up. That's all you have to do."

_I can't. I can't do it._

After a few moments, Georgie asked, "Do you want me to call Amy in for you?"

Lou shook her head ever so slightly.

Georgie was flustered. She had no idea what to do now. Mitch had left, and wouldn't be back for a while. Same with Jade, and Peter… what was she supposed to do? Georgie clenched her hand into a fist, digging her fingers into her palm. There was no convincing Lou, this was an impossible task. "Mom, please just sit up. It's not that hard."

"I just want to sleep," Lou barely whispered.

"Fine, then. I'm not eating either."

Lou finally seemed to look at Georgie. "Sweetheart…"

Georgie shrugged a shoulder. "Come on, just sit up for me. Please."

After a few very long moments, Lou finally began to shift. She placed an elbow on the mattress and then allowed herself to sit up, finally moving to lean onto the pillows.

Georgie felt the tightening in her chest ease up and she finally allowed herself to breathe in and out.

* * *

When Mitch returned a little while later, Georgie was sitting beside Lou, who had fallen asleep. The man stepped in and first looked toward his wife, and then his eyes quickly darted to the side table. "Where's the tray?"

Georgie looked quickly toward Lou, to make sure she was still asleep. Looking to Mitch, she said, "Mom finally ate. It wasn't much, but it was enough."

Mitch was in disbelief. "Georgie, I have been trying for the past few _days_, and you just came in and got the job done. Thank you."

"Why didn't anybody tell me what was going on? I mean, I guess I should have known, but…"

Mitch stopped, and exhaled. "We just wanted you to focus on getting your own rest."

"No, I get that. But it's been what, three days? If I had known, I could have helped…" Georgie groaned, putting a hand to her forehead.

"I know, I know," Mitch said, his voice apologetic.

"Look, I get it. You were worried, but if it has anything to do with Lou, you need to tell me. I can't—I can't sit by and do nothing while she's falling apart."

Mitch nodded.

"How long do you think she'll take…? To get out of bed."

Mitch blew out his breath. "I have no idea, kid…no idea. The past few days, she's barely slept, she's refused to eat anything, and it's like—"

"Like she's not there. You can keep calling out to her, but she won't answer, she doesn't even realize you're talking to her."

Mitch didn't do or say anything for a couple of moments, but then he just nodded. "Hmm."

"Mitch, I'm terrified. Please promise me—" Georgie broke off, swallowing. "Promise that you'll take care of her because I just—I don't know how."

"Hey, you just got her to eat, when nobody else could get her to," Mitch offered his step-daughter some encouragement. "We've got this, okay?"

Georgie looked toward Lou, and leaned down to plant a light kiss on her hair. "Yeah, we've got this."


	8. Chapter 8

A few nights later, once Mitch had gone to sleep, Lou lay awake in the dark. Her mind kept racing back to the day it had all happened—to before, when she had been completely unaware and everything was fine and afterward, once Georgie had walked into the house and told them the news.

Her daughter's words rung in her ears. _Katie's gone._

_Gone_. Lou had repeated that word to herself so many times in the past week or so that it didn't even feel like a word anymore.

She was half-expecting Katie to run into the room and jump into her arms, screaming and laughing. Lou closed her eyes, trying her best to imagine it to life, but it never happened. Katie never came.

Lou had spent the past seventy-two hours or so in a state of utter chaos, both internal and on the outside. Sometimes she'd feel numb, and then suddenly the tears would begin falling down her face and she wouldn't be able to stop them until she was all cried out. And right now, she was all cried out.

Georgie's words wouldn't stop ringing in her ears.

_I can't believe it, but she's gone. And I'm still here, when I shouldn't be._

Why would Georgie say something like that? What was going through her head, and how did she think that any of this was okay for her to say?

_And I'm still here, when I shouldn't be._

Her entire body ached, and her head was spinning. The tightness in her chest was stubborn, and refused to go away. Lou couldn't move, no matter how hard she tried. Her lips parted as she called out in vain, "Mitch? Mitch…?"

The more she thought about it, the more paralyzed she became. And before she even realized what was happening, she felt her chest tighten and her breaths becoming shortened.

When it didn't go away, Lou began to panic. She moved a hand to Mitch, who was sleeping on his back. She quickly nudged his torso, and he mumbled, "Lou?"

"Mitch, wake up…"

The urgency in her voice alarmed Mitch, and he immediately sat up. "Lou…?" He asked, a little disoriented. "What is it?"

When she didn't say anything, it became obvious to him that something was wrong. He moved to turn on his lamp and then turned to face her again. "Lou? Talk to me." Mitch suddenly became aware of Lou's strained breathing, and he saw her hand resting just under her collarbone.

Mitch's eyes widened, and he threw the blanket off and quickly got out of bed. He rushed to open the door of their bedroom and then came back to help his wife out of bed. "Come on, you're going to be okay. I've got you."

Once they were ready to go, Lou leaned heavily on Mitch as they walked to the yard.

Mitch finally looked at her as the light from the sky shone on her face. Seeing her, the muscles in Mitch's own face tightened. He moved to click her seatbelt into place. "You're going to be fine."

Lou exhaled, leaning back into the seat, closing her eyes. She sensed the truck begin to move on the rough gravel, and she heard Mitch call something out to her but he seemed so far off, and she was unable to grasp what he had said to her.

* * *

Mitch raced his truck into town. He was wide awake, completely aware of Lou in the back. _I need to hurry._

As they arrived in the emergency room, everything went so much faster than Mitch had expected. They asked him what had happened, and what was the matter. And he told them as best he could. Mitch moved himself into a corner as he watched the scene unfold in front of him.

He jolted, suddenly becoming aware of his phone ringing. It had been ringing during their car ride over, but he had refused to check it and just kept driving. Keeping his eyes glued to Lou, he reached into his pocket. Pressing the answer key, he brought the phone to his ear. "Hello?"

"Mitch?" That was Jack's voice. He continued. "I heard the door open and close, and the next thing I knew your truck was gone. Is everything okay?"

A wounded sound escaped Mitch's throat. "Jack, I…" Mitch began, his eyes welling up as he continued to stare at Lou, who was barely aware of her surroundings. "Lou's in the emergency room. I don't—I don't know what's happening, and I need you to stay at home with Georgie."

There was a short pause on the other end. "Mitch? What's going on with her?"

"I don't…I don't know!" Mitch forced out, his voice shaky. "I have no idea what's going on, I need you to stay with Georgie and not tell her anything until we know more."

"Oh, I'm coming. It's almost morning anyway so I'll send Peter to the house to stay with Georgie. I'll be there soon." Jack promised before hanging up the phone.

Mitch brought his cellphone down in front of him and stared at it, blankly. He stared until the screen went completely dark, and he then slipped it into his pocket. He moved back to look at his wife, who had a team of doctors and nurses surrounding her. The panic was flooding through him, and Mitch didn't know how much longer he could stand on his own two feet. He staggered back, until her found a wall that he violently bumped into. Pain shot through his spine, but he barely noticed it. His eyes were glued to the scene in front of him.

A man dressed in scrubs approached him, and Mitch turned to look at him, in a daze.

"You must be Mitch."

"Yeah, yeah...I am."

"I'm Dr. Wilson, the cardiologist on your wife's case. Can you tell me what happened?"

Mitch shrugged his shoulders, exhaling. "I was asleep, and she woke me up and the next thing I knew she had a hand resting here—" Mitch said, putting a hand to his chest. "She said—well, she didn't say anything. There was trouble with her breathing, and her chest was hurting. And that's all I know."

The man nodded. "Okay. Is your wife a heart patient?"

Mitch's head shot up. "God, no. No, she isn't. She—she's completely healthy."

"Any family history of heart disease?"

Mitch nodded. "Her grandfather is a heart patient, but…"

"Okay, that's alright." He tried to console Mitch.

"This is the first time anything like this has happened—" Mitch tried to defend. He exhaled, bringing a hand to the back of his head.

After a pause, the doctor asked, "Has there been a recent death in the family?"

Mitch breathed out. "Yes, there has, actually. My step-daughter—my wife's youngest just recently passed."

Mild shock, followed by what seemed like realization appeared on the man's face. "I see. I'm very sorry for what has happened. My team and I are going to order some quick tests, and a cardiac MRI."

Mitch swallowed. "Okay, but is she going to be alright?"

"We have a very skilled team here, she's in good hands."

Mitch knew that his words were meant to make him feel better, but the only thing he could feel right now was terror. It was as if it was coursing through him like electricity, paralyzing him.

"We're going to have your wife admitted and then shifted into a room. Could you come with us, sign off on a couple things?"

"Yeah, of course." Mitch forced out. He followed the doctor, but he looked over his shoulder and got one last look at Lou before he left the room.

* * *

Once Lou had been shifted into a room, Mitch sat with her, holding her hand in his and refusing to let go.

He felt hot tears make their way down his face and he stubbornly wiped them away, not wanting anyone to see him like this.

When Lou began to stir, Mitch moved to the edge of his seat but then decided to just stand up. "Lou…?"

As Lou opened her eyes, she looked at Mitch in disbelief. "I'm still here."

He moved his free hand to Lou's hair, stroking it gently. "Yeah. You are."

Lou stared into Mitch's eyes, suddenly realizing he had been crying. Truth be told, Lou had only seen him like this once before, on the anniversary of Zach's death. "Mitch, you—you're crying…"

Mitch cleared his throat. "Don't talk too much. Just relax, okay?" Mitch exhaled, feeling his throat tighten. He looked down at their hands intertwined, and he grabbed on tighter. "They've done a few tests already. Said that…that they were going to be back with results soon." When Lou didn't respond, Mitch quietly moved to sit down in the bed. "How are you…how are you feeling?"

"I have no idea."

"Hmm. I'm terrified."

After a few seconds, Lou said, "Don't be. It'll all be okay."

"You must be in a lot of pain."

"I'm going to be in pain for the rest of my life. What's this compared to what I'll have to face in the days ahead?"

Mitch inhaled sharply. "Lou," he said sternly. "Please, just tell me. How bad is it?"

"I can barely breathe without it hurting."

Mitch's head turned. "It's hurting right now?"

When she didn't say anything, Mitch fell silent as well. His mind was racing. The doctor that had approached him introduced himself as a cardiologist, and he had then gone on to ask about any previous heart symptoms. The trauma from Katie's death and the ordeal that Georgie went through had landed Lou in here, and Mitch feared that there would be no turning back from this.

Mitch's phone suddenly rang, and he quickly fished it out of his pocket. He answered it and brought it up to his ear and said hello. Mitch stole a glance at Lou and he noticed her eyes beginning to close again, her breathing still steady.

It was Jack on the other end, and he sounded calm and composed but Mitch sensed the underlying tension in his voice. "Mitch, where is she? You texted and said to go to the ER, but…"

"We're in room one-eleven."

Jack breathed out, "Is she awake?"

Mitch looked toward Lou. "Barely."

"I'm about to turn the corner. I'll hang up now."

Mitch agreed silently, and put his phone away. About a minute later, Jack walked into the room.

"Jack," Mitch greeted him.

"Hey, Mitch," Jack answered distractedly. His gaze shifted over to Lou, who he saw lay almost completely still. Jack pursed his lips and walked over to her. "Lou, honey?" He quietly asked, placing a hand to her arm, squeezing gently.

Mitch sat there in a daze and he watched on as Lou began to speak to Jack.

"Grandpa, did—did you tell Georgie?"

Jack shook his head. "She was asleep when I left."

Lou exhaled, but as soon as she did, she felt a pang go through her chest. In fear of the pain getting worse, Lou tried to limit her movement. Lou felt Mitch give her hand a reassuring squeeze, and so she adjusted her grasp, trying to make sure her hold on him didn't slip. "Mitch, could you call her for me? In a few hours, once the sun is up. I need to talk to her."

Mitch's head went up. "I will…don't worry." He promised her. Just then, his gaze was averted to behind Jack, where he saw Dr. Wilson approach. The man had an eased expression on his face, and seeing that made Mitch relax as well.

Mitch stood as the doctor came around to stand at the foot of the bed.

Dr. Wilson addressed Mitch. "I have good news for you. Initially, we feared that this may have been a heart attack, though they are rare for people of your wife's age group. As it turns out, we're dealing with a condition whose symptoms often mimic those of a heart attack."

Mitch nodded, inhaling deeply. "Okay, so she's…" he trailed off, looking over at Lou. "She's alright?"

"In most cases, patients make a full recovery."

That wasn't the answer that Mitch was hoping for.

"We're going to prescribe medication for the first few months, and then if there's a need, we can always write another prescription."

"So, surgery…? We don't have to do that?"

"No. In this case, surgery would be of no use."

Mitch nodded, exhaling. A desperate smile made its way onto his face as he met Jack's gaze.

Jack spoke then. "How long would you have to keep her here?"

"Well, until she makes a full recovery. It shouldn't be more than a week."

Jack nodded.

Lou was aware of the conversation happening around her. She wanted to refuse the medication, because they already had her on pain meds, and she already felt her grasp on reality slipping…but she also knew that the only way she stood a chance was to accept this treatment.

In the next few minutes, Jack and Mitch left the room and a nurse came into the room. Lou sensed her working around her and the next thing she knew, she felt a sharp pinch in her inner arm. Lou grimaced, but was unable to move and so she just lay there, still.

Lou had already been drowsy, but now it was just hard to keep her eyes open. She didn't fight it, though, and she fell into a slumber.

* * *

At about half past eleven, Georgie made her way downstairs to the kitchen. Peter sat at the roundtable, a closed fist tucked under his chin. When he noticed her walk into the room, he sat up straight. "Georgie, you're finally awake…"

"I know, I've been sleeping in these past few days."

Peter nodded. "Right, right. Okay, look—why don't you eat something, and then we'll go for a ride into town."

Georgie raised a brow. "Right now? How come…?"

Peter inhaled sharply. "I want to run something by you."

"What's with the mystery? Just tell me now."

"It's not too urgent, so let's just get you something first and then we can get to that."

Georgie relented, moving to sit in the seat across from her dad.

Peter stood and grabbed a plate from the cupboard. Once he'd gotten her breakfast, he came and sat down again. "How's your head feeling? I mean, I know it's only been a few days, but—"

Georgie nodded. "Yeah, yeah…it's getting better. I don't feel as dizzy and imbalanced as I did before."

"And the ringing in your ears? Nausea?"

"The ringing is still kind of there, but otherwise it's all okay."

"Okay…good, I'm glad it's getting better."

Georgie didn't say anything, and instead turned her attention to her breakfast. After a couple moments, "The house is so quiet…where's Mitch? Jack?"

Peter avoided her gaze and simply told her to finish her breakfast.

* * *

Once Peter had turned onto the main road, Georgie remembered what her father had said back at the house, that he had something he wanted to talk to her about. But where were they headed? "So, where are we going? What's with all the mystery?"

Peter looked over at her. "We'll get there when we get there. Right now, I need to talk to you about something."

"What is it?"

"So, a few days ago I actually went back to the police station."

Georgie's head turned. "They called you in…?" The fear crept into her voice.

"No, no—nothing like that…I actually went in myself, to ask about the officers that handled your arrest."

Georgie made a face. "Why?"

"I want to press charges."

Georgie's lips parted and she sucked in her breath. "Wait, what? Why would you do that?"

"What are you talking about? Why wouldn't I?"

"Against who? What are you on about?"

"Against the officers that handled your arrest."

Georgie's lips parted and she got wrinkles between her eyebrows. "Whoa, hold on a second. Why would you—"

"Georgie, come on. You know why. The way that they handled you that day…they hurt you. You didn't end up in the hospital because of nothing."

"You're being ridiculous."

Peter was perplexed. "Honey, don't make this anymore difficult than it already is."

"Please, drop this. You're overreacting."

"Georgie! How can you say that? I was there. So was your mom, and we know what we saw. Lou… that's the one thing she's been talking about for the last few days. She—"

"Look, I don't want to press charges, so please just drop this," Georgie demanded.

"Hey, I get that you don't want this. But what happened to you was wrong. You spent all night in that cell, and you were obviously hurt, and they didn't do anything about it. They didn't even let me in to see you, even though I kept on asking."

Georgie sighed. "Look, I don't want to press any charges. I know you're mad about it, and I get it. But…"

Peter listened in. He had a feeling she was about to go on, so he continued to drive into town, silently.

"You know, when they came into the house and began asking for me…I felt nothing but terror. I was afraid of what would happen if I they were to arrest me, if they put those cuffs on me…but then it happened. When I was on the ground, all I could hear was Mom screaming and begging them to let go of me…" Georgie sighed deeply, leaning her head back. "And when I finally found the courage to look up at her, all I could see was how scared and broken she was…" Georgie trailed off, beginning to laugh a little. "But there was this flicker…of doubt, I guess. I mean, maybe she thought that they were right—"

"Georgie, come on."

"And that was it. That was the moment that made me want to stop, it made me give up. I stopped resisting, and I…" Georgie trailed off, sensing her voice beginning to quiver.

"See, this is why I want to press charges. They put you through so much, and not just physically."

"Dad, they were following orders."

"Following orders? Honey, you were bleeding."

Georgie clicked her tongue. "Dad, please. I know you think that they hurt me, and I guess they did…but that's because I resisted when I shouldn't have. I should've kept my head down."

Peter turned his head away, as if to shield himself from his daughter's words. "So that's your fault, too? Honey, if we had lost you—"

Georgie tensed up, moving her gaze out the window. "But you didn't. And I don't want to turn this into something, not right now at least. There's already so much going on."

At that, Peter silenced. How was he going to tell her about Lou?

"This isn't the time to be going out looking for justice."

"Then when would be the right time?"

"Dad, I just got away from that whole mess. And you want to just throw me back in?"

Peter scoffed sadly, hurt at the accusation. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you. I promise."

"You can't guarantee anything. Please, drop this."

Once they had driven into town, Georgie said, "You still haven't told me where we're going."

Peter quickly found a spot and quickly put his vehicle into park. Turning off the ignition, Peter looked to Georgie. "Honey, I didn't say anything back at the house because I knew you would forget everything and rush here."

"Here?" Georgie questioned, looking out her window. All she could see was the hardware store. "What's here?"

"Well, before I say anything, just know that everything is under control."

"Okay…"

"Lou's in the hospital right now."

Georgie felt like someone had slapped her across her face. Georgie could only stare at her father. Fear settled in her heart, and the blood in her ears was pounding.

"But don't worry, okay? She's going to be alright."

"When—when did she get here?"

"Middle of the night. But she's okay now," Peter said, trying to get Georgie to look at him. "Honey, she's alright."

"What—what was it?"

Peter explained everything as best he could, from beginning to end.

When Peter had finished talking, all Georgie could ask him was, "You're sure she's fine?"

"It looks that way. It wasn't fatal, that's for sure."

Georgie nodded, turning her gaze to the front of the car.

"Do you want to head in?"

"Can I get a minute?" Georgie asked, the fear and desperation evident in her voice.

Before Peter could answer, his phone began to ring. He picked it up and saw it was Mitch calling, so he answered quickly. "Mitch?"

"Peter. Are you two on your way? Have you told her?"

"I did, and we're right across the street from the hospital."

Mitch exhaled, relieved. "Okay, okay. I was beginning to worry."

"Why? Is everything okay?" Peter asked, and he sensed Georgie turn to look at him.

"Yeah, it's just that I hadn't heard from either of you in a while."

"Okay, we're coming in now. Room one-eleven, you said?"

"That's the one," Mitch confirmed.

Before Peter had even hung up the phone, Georgie had already exited the vehicle and had begun crossing the street. Peter breathed a sigh of relief and followed suit.

* * *

Once Georgie walked into the room, she became aware of Mitch sitting beside Lou, who was asleep. He held her hand, but he seemed far off, staring into nothing.

Georgie inhaled nervously. "Mitch?"

Mitch turned his head toward her voice. "Georgie, hey." Mitch was relieved to see Georgie, and his face immediately lit up at the sight of her.

"Hey," was all Georgie could muster up before her gaze travelled over to Lou.

Mitch noticed and quickly added, "She should be alright. She just needs a lot of rest."

Georgie bit down on her lip as she sensed Peter's footsteps approach.

"How's she doing?" Peter asked, stepping forward.

"She's doing alright."

"Yeah, and you? How're you holding up?"

Mitch laughed a little. "I'm just fine. Worried about her, that's all."

"Hmm," Peter said. "Hey, I'm just going to go and make a few calls, see if everything's going smoothly."

Georgie turned to look over her shoulder when she saw Mitch's face become tense.

"Yeah, alright. I'll be here," Mitch answered.

Before Peter could slip away, Georgie caught up to him in the hall. "Dad, are you serious right now?"

Peter stopped, and Georgie could see that he had brought up his hand and was rubbing his forehead. He eventually turned toward his daughter.

"Why are you leaving? You just got here."

The muscles in Peter's face tensed up and he seemed to be struggling with what he wanted to say. "I don't want to leave. But…" He trailed off, gesturing to the room where Lou lay in bed. "She's in there, looking as sick as ever…and I can't stand to watch it. Especially when there's nothing I can do for her. Mitch is there for her, and she doesn't need me."

Georgie's lips parted, and she tried to come up with something to say, but…he was right. And there was nothing Georgie could think of that would help to make Peter feel better. She watched on helplessly as her father walked away from her.

* * *

It was dead silent in the room. Georgie suddenly became aware of the clock ticking and it irked her for some reason, and she inhaled sharply, rubbing her temple. "Mitch…why didn't you call me right when it happened?"

Mitch looked up at her. He shrugged a shoulder. "I don't know, I guess it was because of how late in the night it happened. I wanted you to get your sleep."

"When exactly did all this happen? How did you guys get here?"

"Well, I drove her here in my truck."

"Right," Georgie said, realizing that had been a dumb question.

"And I honestly can't remember exactly when it happened. What I do know is that it was late. Really late in the night."

"You should have called me," Georgie said simply, her gaze unfocused as she stared down in front of her.

"I know, but I was worried."

"About what…? Me?" She laughed a little.

Mitch nodded.

"I'm not twelve years old anymore. I can handle things."

"I know," Mitch admitted. "And I'm sorry."

"Because I don't know if I could ever forgive myself if something were to go wrong again. Everything's fallen apart already…"

Concern and worry settled in his eyes, and he wondered if there was more to Georgie's words than she was letting on. "Georgie…"

Georgie's head was beginning to spin and she wanted to go and lie down, but she also knew she didn't want to leave. She sighed, looking to Mitch again. "Did you know about Dad wanting to press charges against the police?"

"Uh, yeah—he might have mentioned it."

Georgie laughed derisively. "You know, I honestly think it's going to be a waste of time if Dad goes ahead with this."

"He does have a point, though. If that hadn't happened, then a lot of things would be different right now."

"Like?"

Mitch gave her a pointed look. "Lou wouldn't be in here if they hadn't taken you away that night."

Georgie wrinkled her brow. "No, this didn't happen because of the arrest," she said defensively, shaking her head.

"Georgie, trust when I say that this happened because she almost lost the both of you. Losing one of you was enough—"

"Mitch, what are you on about? I mean, how are you so sure that that's why?"

"I just do. And you're going to have to believe me."

There was a wounded look in Georgie's eyes, and her heart felt like it was bleeding. "I do believe you, and I wish I didn't." _I've destroyed everything...And no matter how much I tell everyone how sorry I am, it won't matter._


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Thank you for your comments, Guest Reviewer. I'm really glad you liked Jack's part in the previous chapter, and luckily there's more of him in this one :) I've been worried that what I've been writing isn't really reaching anyone and that it ain't all that good, but knowing you've enjoyed the chapter makes me feel better :D Thank you so, so much for reading this story. And thank you for the support, you're amazing! :D**

* * *

Later on, when Jack walked in, Georgie stood to greet him. "Jack."

Jack put a gentle hand to her head. "I'm here. You alright?"

Georgie sighed. She had become tired of hearing that same question again and again. "Yeah."

He came and sat in a chair beside her. "Are you sure about that?"

Georgie scoffed softly as she moved to sit in her chair. "Of course I'm sure."

"See, I want to believe you. But…"

Georgie's head turned to him. "Jack, out of everyone that was involved in the crash, I'm the only one that came out of it with virtually no injuries."

"Of all the people there that day, you're also the only one that lost someone."

Georgie shook her head, trying to rid herself of that thought. After a few moments, "I think I want to go away for a little while."

Jack paused a moment before speaking. "You're sure that's the wisest decision?"

"I have no idea, I just need to get away from all of this…"

"You're running," Jack stated the obvious.

And Georgie didn't deny it. "I am."

"How are you going to break the news to Lou?"

"I don't know. And honestly, I don't even think that I can…at least not right now."

"So you'll wait?"

"I'm not sure. I might just leave a note," she said, looking over to Jack. "What, you're not even going to try and stop me?"

Jack shook his head. "No. I figure you're an adult now and you can make your own decisions. And besides, it won't be me who stops you from going. It'll be Lou."

"I don't want to leave, trust me. But being here, seeing how disturbed everyone is…I don't know, it's hard. I really hope Mom doesn't take it the wrong way."

"I'm not sure there's a right way to take it. Just…approach it carefully. You don't want to make things worse for her."

Georgie swallowed hard. "Jack…" she trailed off. "I won't."

"You know…losing a child is _the_ worst thing that can happen to anyone. So keeping that in mind, you might want to approach all this with a certain amount of patience as well."

Georgie closed her eyes. "Yeah, I will."

"And I know you want to get away from all of this, and that's your decision…but in times like this, if we don't have family to lean on, then who do we have? Look, Lou just lost Katie. She almost lost you, and seeing as that's what put her in here…if you were to leave, what do you think that would do to her?"

Georgie exhaled. "Jack…"

"I mean, Lou would just be completely alone."

"She won't be…she's got Mitch, she's got you and Tim, and Amy. She would never be alone."

"You're stubborn, I'll give you that."

"It's not about me being stubborn, it's about me being scared."

"Scared?"

"Nevermind."

Jack didn't press on too much, mostly because he didn't want Georgie to completely stop opening up to him, but also because he himself was too afraid to find out the answer. "Alright, where will you go?"

Georgie laughed a little. "Jack, come on. You really think I've thought through all the details?"

Jack shrugged a shoulder. "Seems easy enough."

Georgie thought a moment. "Maybe if I save up enough money, I could move to another city…"

"And what about your job at the diner?"

"I'd have to quit, I guess."

"And showjumping?"

Georgie turned to look at Jack. "Showjumping…? No, I'm already done with that."

Jack stared at her, partly in shock, but he was mostly sad. "Honey…"

Georgie felt tears building up, and so she quickly brought a hand to cover her mouth. She felt Jack's arms go around her and bring her in for a hug.

Georgie buried her face in the folds of his jacket and she began to whimper quietly. "I'm done with it, I'm just done," she sobbed.

Jack rested a hand on Georgie's head, stroking her hair gently. "I've got you, honey…"

Once her crying died down, Georgie exhaled, trying to get a few words out. "Everything's ruined, I've destroyed everything."

"No, you didn't," Jack tried his best to console her.

"I did, and Mom's in here because of me…"

Jack hugged her tighter, not wanting to hear anything else out of her. "That's enough, now. None of this happened because of you, you put that thought out of your head."

But how could she? Both Peter and Mitch had said the same thing—that Lou had been talking non-stop about her arrest and that it was the stress from that situation that put her in here. No doubt because she thought that Georgie might really have had something to do with the crash…

But Georgie didn't dare ask, she didn't need what she suspected to be confirmed. Her suspicions were enough to drive her crazy.

How would she convince Lou that she had done nothing wrong? That she had done everything right that day, and still…

* * *

Later on, once the early evening approached, Lou finally began to stir. Georgie had been resting her elbow on the arm of the chair and just as she noticed her elbow slipped from where it was perched. She immediately moved to stand, holding onto the bed for support. "Mom…? Are you awake? It's me."

As Lou's eyes opened, she became aware of a familiar silhouette and an even more familiar voice. _Georgie_, she wanted to call out, but her lips refused to form any words. Lou felt Georgie move to sit beside her and hold her hand.

"Mom…? Can you hear me?"

Lou nodded slightly.

"You're—you're okay, right?"

Lou just stared at her, until her vision became focused and she could see Georgie clearly.

"Mom, would you just say something?"

Lou inhaled and tilted her head back, trying to open up her airway. "Yeah," she whispered. "I'm okay."

Georgie calmed a little, her tense shoulders beginning to relax.

After a few moments, Lou spoke. "I need you to do something," she said, her voice barely a whisper.

"Yeah, I'll go get Mitch. He just stepped out a few minutes ago, I'm sure he's not far."

Lou shook her head. "No, no…your dad's been talking about something, and I'm sure he's told you by now."

"Mom, stop it. Right now."

"No, listen…I need you to do as he says."

"Absolutely not. No, I'm not going ahead with it. Honestly, what's gotten into you and Dad? Just this morning, I had to talk him out of it, and now you…?"

Lou exhaled, feeling a stinging pain go through her chest. "What happened to you that day, it really scared me."

Georgie sighed. "Stop, please. They said not to talk too much."

"I almost lost you, so many times this past week…"

"Fine. That's valid, but…" Georgie shrugged a shoulder. "There's nothing to be afraid of now."

Lou shook her head and moved to grab her daughter's hand even tighter than before.

"Besides, pressing charges isn't going to undo what happened, or make things better for me. I need you and Dad to drop this. _Please,_" she begged. "Just drop it."

Lou moved a hand to just below her collarbone, and held it there, inhaling. "Georgie…"

"And besides, right now I just want to be here. Then when you get better, I'll think about..."

"You'll think about it?"

"Maybe…but it'll be my call." When Lou didn't say anything, Georgie took that as an okay. She sighed and grabbed Lou's hand again. "I love you. And…what happened today scared _me_. A lot."

"Hon…"

"So I'm not going to even think about anything else until you're better…" Georgie trailed off, feeling the tears build up. She held her head low, and quickly moved to rest her head on her mother's torso.

Lou inhaled sharply, her hand travelling to cradle Georgie's head. "So you refuse to go ahead with this?"

"Yeah."

"Just promise me something then. Promise me you won't fight with yourself…" Lou began quietly. "Life's already hard enough without us becoming our own enemies."

Georgie shut her eyes tight, holding onto Lou even tighter. After a couple moments, she sat up straight. "I'm pretty sure I have no idea what you're talking about."

"No, Georgie—"

Before Lou could say anything else, Georgie quickly changed the subject. "You know, I still don't get why nobody told me right when it happened. I mean, did you guys seriously think I would rather sleep than be here…? I mean…"

"Hey, it's okay. They were worried."

Georgie sighed tightly. "Seriously, how many times am I going to have to hear that? Look, you guys need to promise to tell me things," she began, shaking her head. "Please, no secrets. It makes me feel like an outsider."

Lou just looked at her, unsure of how to even respond to that.

Georgie inhaled deeply. "You're feeling okay, though?"

"You want the truth?" Lou tested.

Georgie paused a moment before answering. "Yeah."

"It still hurts, but they said they're going to be giving me these medications. If I take them for a few months or so, all should be fine."

"I should've been there when they told you about that."

"Honey, it was four in the morning, and I was barely awake myself."

"Who cares how late it was!? I'm your daughter, I should've been there."

"Sweetheart…"

"Unless, of course, you didn't want me to be."

"Why wouldn't I want you there?"

Georgie scowled, looking down. She began picking at the bedsheet. "I don't know, you tell me."

Lou didn't know what was going on with her, and she certainly didn't want to say the wrong thing and upset her even more. "Hey…"

Georgie shook her head, clearly not in the mood to talk about it.

After a tense couple of minutes, Jack returned to the room. His face lit up with a smile just as he saw Lou. "Honey, you're awake…"

Georgie stood and moved out of the way to let Jack continue speaking to Lou. She picked up her jacket and walked out of the room.

She didn't stop until she was out of the hallway and in the stairwell. She put a hand to the railing and slid down to sit on the landing.

Georgie brought her phone out and texted Mitch. _Mom's awake._

He answered right away. _I'm in the cafeteria, so good thing you texted. I'll get something for your mom, too._

Georgie stared at her phone until the screen went blank. She then slipped it into her pocket. Putting a hand to her head, she suddenly began to cry, her shoulders shaking as she sobbed and whimpered. She didn't know what for exactly, but Georgie felt like punching a wall, or throwing something into the dimly lit stairwell.

Georgie had a hand resting in her jacket pocket. When her fingers hit something, she brought the object out, realizing that it was her car keys in there. A sudden rage washed over her and she grabbed onto them and squeezed as hard she could.

Rationally, she knew she couldn't do anything to the keys and that they would come out of this unharmed, but even so, she didn't stop. Even when it began to hurt so much that she began shedding tears, she didn't stop.

* * *

"So? How're you feeling?" Jack asked as he sat down in a chair.

"More of the same, Grandpa…"

"Hmm. How did this happen?"

Lou exhaled. "Katie. Georgie."

Her response was short and simple, but Jack understood. "Georgie's here. She's alright."

Lou looked at Jack a moment, then began. "Georgie told me that in the last few moments…she held Katie, and told her that we all loved her so much."

Jack smiled weakly. "Seems she did everything right."

Lou nodded. "It's what I would have done. Peter, too."

"She kept her safe."

"She did. And I'm always going to be so thankful to her…" Lou trailed off, her voice getting quieter and quieter.

Jack put a hand on hers.

"But why did this have to happen…? My baby's gone…"

Jack inhaled. He didn't even have an answer for that.

"Our lives are never going to be the same."

Jack noted how far away she seemed to be. Physically, she was here, but her mind was elsewhere.

"I wish I could just go to her," Lou said, closing her eyes.

"Lou," Jack scolded her. "That's not something you should even be thinking about, not when you have Georgie to think about."

"Grandpa…" Lou whimpered, her eyes red from crying.

"Lou, listen to me. I know you're hurting, I know it all too well…but Georgie, what about her? Do you have any idea how terrified she is right now, seeing you like this?"

Lou looked at him, unable to speak.

"For her. Just do it for her, okay?" He asked, hoping for a nod from Lou. "Alright, why don't you get some rest?"

"I've been asleep all day…I…" Lou trailed off distractedly. "Did you see where Georgie went? She left in a bit of a hurry."

Jack's turned to look. "I didn't even hear her leave…"

Georgie's words rung in his ears. _Maybe I'll leave a note._

Jack fished his phone out of his pocket and called Georgie. but she didn't answer, Jack sighed heavily. "Voicemail."

"She might not be in the mood to talk. Just text her."

Jack handed his phone to Lou. "Not in the mood? Why, what happened?"

Lou shook her head. She already had enough trouble breathing without her lungs screaming for air, and she could barely see six feet in front of her. Texting was a whole other task in itself. _Honey, where are you? It's Mom. Please, just call me back._

As Lou waited for a response, Jack saw her become increasingly nervous. "Hey, you know how she gets. And seeing you in here like this couldn't have been good for her," he tried to console. "I just wish that girl would answer her phone…" he muttered to himself.

* * *

After a while, Georgie did answer. By then, Mitch had returned and the three of them were worried out of their minds.

Instead of answering to her text, Jack quickly dialled her number. "Georgie, where are you?"

"Jack, I—"

"What took you so long to answer? I called about a half hour ago."

"I'm sorry, my phone was on silent."

Jack sighed. "Look, you're not in the right sort of condition to be going out on these sorts of adventures…" he said discreetly, trying to send Georgie a stern message but at the same time he wanted to seem normal to Lou and Mitch.

"What adventure? Jack, come on, I'm still in the building."

Jack was beyond relieved. "Right, okay. You get back here as soon as you can, okay?"

"Sure. I'm just going to call Dad first, see where he's at. Then I'll head back."

"That's fine," said Jack.

"I'm still here, Jack. Don't worry."

"Alright, you hurry back," said Jack, and then he hung up the phone.

"What did she say?" Mitch asked, for both himself and for Lou.

"She's still in the building. Said she'd be here in a little while."

"Okay, good," said Mitch, turning to Lou. "Hey, she'll be here."

Lou closed her eyes. Her voice desperate, she asked, "Why did she take so long to answer?"

"Her phone was on silent, that's all," said Jack.

Mitch leaned down and kissed Lou's forehead. "She'll be here. Try to rest a little."


	10. Chapter 10

Lou was beginning to get agitated again, wondering where Georgie was and what she was up to. What was taking her so long? She'd called over twenty minutes ago. Lou knew that whenever something was on her mind, or if she was upset, Georgie would isolate herself.

And right now, she had been gone almost an hour. Was she okay? What was going on inside her mind? _She must be furious with me_, thought Lou to herself. That was the only reasonable explanation she had right now. Why else wasn't Georgie back yet?

Lou was vaguely aware of the nurse that was working beside her. Before Mitch and Jack had left the room, she heard something about the IV bag and that they were going to refill the dose. As much as she dreaded being at the mercy of a stranger, Lou could barely think about that. She could barely think about anything except Georgie.

The way Georgie had refused to meet her mother's gaze, and when she finally did look at her…she seemed beaten, defeated. Like she was afraid that the world would come crashing down on her if she made the wrong move, or said the wrong thing…

The way Georgie's eyes steeled up and her posture became stiff when Lou had told her that she was in pain. The anger and desperation that had settled in Georgie's expression, the way that it refused to dissolve away…

How Lou wished she could take it all back, explain to her that she was only looking out for her by not telling her right away, that she would've given anything to have her close by throughout the night. Only Lou knew how much she needed to hold Georgie close to her, tell her she loved her. Only she knew how desperate she was to see a smile at her daughter's lips. _I want her to be able to come to me when she's hurting. If she bolts the other way, then what will I have left?_

Lou's head turned as she saw Georgie enter the room. Georgie walked over to Lou, but her gaze was completely fixed on the woman who was working over her mother. Lou saw her agitation, and she saw anger resurface on her face. But she fought it, and as she came to sit down, she tried to smile.

The relief that washed over Lou was overwhelming and seeing Georgie in front of her triggered her tears. As her eyes began to well up, Lou began to speak. "Honey, I am so sorry—"

Georgie shook her head. "You don't have to say anything, it's alright," she said as she nervously darted her eyes to the side where the nurse was wrapping up.

As the nurse quietly moved out of the room, Georgie turned to Lou. "Why was she here?"

Lou shook her head. "She was only here to increase the dose." Lou gestured to her arm. "And something about changing the needle."

"You—she was just—? That's what she was doing just now?" The words sputtered from Georgie's lips, her voice faltering. Seeing the needle in her arm made Georgie's stomach turn and her head spin.

"I barely felt anything," Lou reassured. "It's alright."

The anxiety that Georgie was feeling would not go away so easily, despite Lou's assurances and calm composure. She was silent for a minute or so, and then Georgie cleared her throat.

"I'm sorry that I walked out of here. But I just…" Georgie trailed off, pursing her lips. "Seeing you in here—it's driving me crazy."

"I know that," said Lou simply. "But how could you think that I didn't want you here with me?"

There it was again, that damaged look in Georgie's eye. She shook her head, looking down. "I shouldn't have said that, I'm really sorry," she began, the regret evident in her voice. "I'm so stupid, I didn't realize how much that would hurt you. Please, just forgive me. I'm really sorry."

Lou was at a loss. She had planned to say so much, she had planned to address so many little worries that were going through her mind at the time, but when time came to actually say it, Lou had no words to speak. She exhaled tiredly and brought her hand out to hold onto her daughter's wrist. "Honey, come here…" she spoke in a whisper, too drained to speak any louder.

Georgie was confused. "I'm here, it's okay. I'm not—I'm not leaving…"

Lou shook her head. "No, that's not what I meant."

Georgie realized right then that Lou wanted to hold her close, but she worried about hurting her if she got too close. "Mom, I…"

Lou kept her hold on Georgie's hand and gently moved her closer to her.

Georgie carefully put a hand to Lou's side and held her close. She rested her head on Lou's shoulder, and closed her eyes.

_"I love you,"_ came her mother's voice. _"I need you."_

Georgie held on tighter, startled at the intensity of Lou's voice. "I love you, too. I'm right here."

After a little while, Georgie straightened and before she sat up she quickly planted a kiss on Lou's hair. "Hey, why don't you go to sleep? You've been awake long enough," Georgie worried.

Lou's expression went from calm and composed to alarmed and unsettled. "What, are you leaving?"

Georgie shook her head, moving to stroke her mom's hair. "No! Of course not…hey, I'm right here. I just want you to get some sleep."

Lou nodded a little. "If it gets late, and I'm not awake yet, you go home with your dad, okay?"

Georgie nodded quickly, dismissing Lou's words. "Don't worry about it," she said, holding onto Lou's hand. "Just get some sleep."

* * *

Once Lou had fallen asleep, Georgie got a text from Peter saying he was arriving in a couple of minutes. Georgie answered back and then quickly stood to adjust Lou's blanket up to her waist. Before heading out of the room, she quickly kissed Lou's forehead. "I love you," she mouthed, too worn out to properly speak.

Georgie walked out of the room. She began to close the door behind her, but then decided to leave it ajar. She kept it open just a little bit.

As she saw Peter turn the corner, she moved a step or two forward. "Dad…"

Once Peter came to stand near her, he offered her the duffel bag he'd brought from home. "Here's some of your things…I brought your medicines, and some of your mom's things. Amy helped me."

"She didn't come?"

Peter shook his head. "She's with Lyndy…I'm sure she'll visit tomorrow."

"Where have you been all day?"

"With Tim, actually."

"Okay," Georgie said simply. "Did you want to come in?"

"Is your mom awake?"

Georgie shook her head.

"I'll wait out here, then."

Georgie glanced through the crack in the door and when she saw Lou was fine and fast asleep, she came as well to sit beside her dad.

He pointed to the bag in her hand. "There's some food in there as well. You need to eat before taking your medication."

Georgie didn't say anything.

"How's Lou doing?"

"I don't know," Georgie breathed out. "I think she's alright, everyone says she should be fine…the doctors, nurses. But I can't help but be _terrified_. Every moment that she spends in this building…" Georgie trailed off. "I just need her to come home, safe and sound."

"You're beginning to sound like Lou," Peter said thoughtfully. "And don't worry, she'll be alright."

"Are you going to let me stay here tonight?"

"I don't think your mom's going to be too happy about that."

"She doesn't have to know."

"Still, you need to sleep in your own bed."

"Yeah, I guess."

"Besides, Mitch will be here with her."

Georgie looked over at her father. "So him being here somehow dismisses me?"

"You know that's not what I meant."

"I'm her daughter, I have the right to be here."

"You're also in recovery, so you shouldn't be taking any risks with your health."

Georgie laughed, almost dismissively. "Yeah, I guess."

After a few moments, "Have you given any thought to what we talked about this morning?"

Georgie exhaled heavily. "Dad, not now. Please…"

"Well when, then?"

"I told you. This isn't the time to be doing this. And besides, it happened to me, so I should get to decide if we go through with this or not."

Peter looked at her. "You think we're doing this for us? Georgie, honey, this is all for you. Because of what happened to _you_ that night."

"Right, so it is about me. And I don't want to go ahead with it. I've decided."

Peter sighed. He wanted to say more, he wanted to try and convince her otherwise, but he was drained. And he knew Georgie was, too. "If you ever change your mind…"

Georgie nodded. "I'll let you know."

* * *

The next day, Georgie arrived in town and headed into Maggie's diner. Jade was currently working a shift there, and Georgie knew this. She texted her friend beforehand though, just to confirm.

When she finally stepped foot in the diner, she saw Jade behind the counter. She was wiping the surface clean and picking up dishes left behind by customers. As soon as Jade saw her friend, her face lit up with a gentle smile. "Hey, I was wondering when you'd get here."

Georgie smiled a little. "Just got into town," she said, moving to sit on one of the stools at the counter. "You busy right now?" Georgie asked, looking around.

"Not at the moment. The morning crowd has sort of dispersed, and so there's not much to do."

Georgie nodded.

"Can I get you something?"

"Hmm—? Yeah, sure…Coffee would be nice."

Jade looked at her a moment. "Coffee? When have I ever seen you drink coffee?"

Georgie shrugged. "I just need to stay awake today, that's all."

Jade understood. "Did you stay at the hospital overnight?"

"No, but when I got home…the empty house just got to me. I almost took some sleeping pills, but I wasn't sure if that was the best idea for me."

As Jade poured her friend's coffee, she gave her a look. "You stay away from those," she chided, her overprotective side coming through once again.

Georgie nodded as she graciously took the cup from Jade. "Thanks."

Once Jade had cleaned up, she came around and sat beside Georgie. "When I'm done with my shift, how about I come to the hospital with you? If that's alright."

Georgie nodded, feeling grateful to her friend. "That would be great. Thank you…"

Jade simply smiled.

"I don't know what I'd do without you."

Jade clicked her tongue, her brows wrinkling. She wrapped Georgie in a hug, holding her close for a few moments. "I'm here for you, you know that."

Completely tongue-tied, all Georgie could do was nod.

Once they broke away from the embrace, Jade asked, "So? What'd the doctors say?"

Georgie exhaled, shrugging a shoulder. "They prescribed medicine," she said, biting down on her lip. "She needs a lot of rest, peace of mind…"

Jade noticed that her friend had gotten lost in thought, her gaze was completely unfocused. Jade put a hand to Georgie's wrist. "That's good news."

Georgie simply nodded.

"Hey, isn't that the girl whose sister died?" A voice came from their right.

Georgie suddenly froze, her breath becoming hitched in her throat. She sensed Jade's head turn sharply toward the direction of the voice.

A second voice called out, "Dude, shut up!"

Georgie didn't dare look, all she could do was stare into the space in front of her. What she wanted to do right now was disappear, just disappear into a void.

Georgie felt Jade stand up and put a hand to her shoulder. She came around to Georgie's other side.

The young man at the table finally noticed that he had attracted Jade's attention. He curved his shoulders inward a little, and asked, "What? Her name's in all the papers. The entire town knows that she was arrested the night her sister died."

Anger surged through Jade, the blood in her ears beginning to pound. "Excuse me?"

"What? I'm just saying…" the guy tried to defend himself. "It's kind of weird, right? She came out of the crash with no injuries, and then the other girl—she was dead on the scene."

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave," said Jade, maintaining her intense glare.

That's when the young man's demeanour changed. He was suddenly angry, and he went on the offense. "Oh, right—so she can kill someone and yet the police let her walk out, but I'm getting kicked out of here for what—telling the truth?"

"Dude, quit it!" His friend tried again.

"You need to leave, right now," Jade demanded, her voice rising in volume and maintaining its intensity. Only she knew how scared she was and only she felt her own voice faltering.

The young man stood, walking over to the girls. "Look, everyone knows that you should be in a jail cell right now," he said to Georgie. "How did you convince them to let you walk?" He said, a mocking tone evident in his voice.

Jade now moved to completely block the strangers' view of Georgie. "I said you need to leave! I won't hesitate to call the cops, I'm telling you."

He cocked his head to the side a little, setting his jaw back. "We're leaving, don't you worry—" he shot a glaring look at Jade, and him and his friend were out the door in no time.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews! It's always good to hear what you guys would like to see happen/what you want more of, so please let me know. Because I'm always happy to add in a few scenes as per your wishes, as long as they fit with the plot :)**

**Please let me know what you guys thought of this chapter!**


	11. Chapter 11

Once the two men had left the diner, Jade whipped back around to Georgie. She sat down beside her, trying to get Georgie to look at her. "Hey, hey…" Jade began, placing a hand to Georgie's back.

Georgie inhaled sharply, straightening her back.

"Are you okay?"

Georgie stared at the counter in front of her. "Didn't you hear him? I'm just fine. That's my problem," Georgie spat out, a foul taste in her mouth.

A shudder ran through Jade's skull, and she wanted so badly to comfort Georgie, to make her feel better, but she didn't know what to say, what to do…

"He's right…I came out of the crash with no injuries, I should've been hurt way more."

"Georgie," Jade said, her voice stern, but filled with worry. "You've been hurt so much."

Georgie turned her head slightly toward Jade, a distant look in her eyes. "Not enough."

After a bit of silence, Georgie continued. "Do you think that's what my parents have been thinking? That there were barely any marks on me, that I came out of it perfectly fine…they must be thinking it…"

"Georgie, no, of course they're not. Do you have any idea how thankful they are that you're fine? That night when you were in the hospital…"

Georgie's head turned. "What?"

"Both your parents were so relieved that you were going to be alright…"

Georgie looked back in front of her, realizing that Jade was just trying to make her feel better. She shook her head. "The police let a murderer walk out…that's what the whole town is saying about me."

"But that's not true, Georgie. Come on, you know you didn't do anything."

"Then why does it feel like I did? Everywhere I look, everyone that I see…I'm just reminded of her, and of all that we lost. And if this is how it's going to be from now on… if this is how I'll be living for the rest of my life, in agony…then what's the point? What's the point of me being here, being—"

"Hey, hey—" Jade let out hurriedly. "Just stop it."

"You know that night, when they arrested me…"

"Yeah…?" Jade asked hesitantly, afraid of what Georgie was about to say.

"As it was happening, all I could think of was how much I wanted to die," Georgie exhaled, as if after saying these words, she could finally begin to breathe.

Jade's head shot up, and all she could do was stare. She felt like she'd been slapped across the face, but she couldn't do anything to stop the stinging. After a moment, with her voice shaking, she said, "And you still feel that way?"

Georgie sighed, closing her eyes momentarily. "Every second of every day."

An overwhelming sense of helplessness came over Jade. "Kid, if you even think about—"

Georgie laughed a little. "Don't worry, nothing's going to happen to a stubborn thing like me."

Jade set her jaw back. Georgie's words stung her so much, but she was helpless, she couldn't do anything about them.

After a little while, Georgie turned and looked to Jade. "So people know about this… it's in the papers…"

"Just forget about that. You really don't need to be thinking about it."

"But you've read them. You know what they said."

Jade tensed, and her eyes steeled up. She didn't do or say anything for a couple of moments, but then she reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. Once she put the article up, she handed the device to Georgie.

After a tense few minutes as Georgie read the article, Jade noticed how completely paralyzed Georgie seemed.

When Georgie reached the end of the article, she swiped up and went to the comments section. Before she could get to more than a few words, Jade snatched the phone out of Georgie's grasp. "That's enough."

Georgie just sat there in a daze, staring out in front of her. "So this is why my dad wanted to press charges…"

"Wanted?"

Georgie pressed her fingers to her temple, exhaling. "Yeah, I made him back out of it."

Jade set her jaw back. "What…? Why would you—"

"Jade, come on."

"So you're just going to let these people get away with what they're saying?"

"It's people's jobs to talk about others and make up rumours…" Georgie trailed off, her voice quieting at the last part. "Or I don't know about rumours, but people talk. It's what they do."

"Georgie, you're not going to give up just like that, are you…?"

Georgie laughed a little. "I've already given up. I'm just…I'm done with everything."

"So the next time someone walks up to you and starts saying all this nonsense—"

Georgie nodded. "I'll let them talk," she said, turning to face Jade as a single tear slipped down onto her cheek.

"And if they say worse than what he just said today, if they twist the truth and accuse you…what are you going to do then?"

"I have no idea, Jade," Georgie breathed out, her voice frail and shaky. "I've lost her, and I just…I'm not ready to stand on my own two feet. Not yet, at least."

* * *

Amy followed Mitch into the room where Lou lay, and she could feel her heart racing with every step she took. "Is she…" Amy began.

As he was walking, Mitch turned to look at Amy. "She's awake, yeah."

As they arrived in the room, and Amy's eyes fell on her sister, the first thing she noticed was the oxygen mask on Lou's face and the way it was fogging and defogging with every breath she took.

As Amy walked over and sat at Lou's bedside, she spoke to her sister in a quiet voice. "Hey, I'm here. I'm sorry I couldn't come earlier. Ty was away for work, and…"

Lou looked to Amy, her heart feeling heavy. Her heart screamed out her sister's name, but her lips remained sealed. _Amy, Amy…_

"Are you feeling okay?" Amy's voice broke. All she wanted was a nod from Lou. Something, anything.

When Lou didn't make any gesture, Amy leaned forward and held Lou's face in her hand and gently kissed her forehead.

After a few moments, Amy sat up straight. With her hand still holding Lou's arm, she looked over at Mitch, who she saw was looking intently at his wife. "Mitch, what did they say? Did they tell you anything else?"

Mitch turned his head to Amy, clearly surprised. He had been lost in thought. "No, just…just the same as before," Mitch answered quickly and to the point. He seemed to be afraid to say the wrong thing in front of Lou, who lay in bed, weak and frail.

Lou's head was spinning and it felt congested from all the crying she had done that day. Mitch had tried to get her to stop. He had begged her, pleaded with her. But she just _couldn't stop_, it was beyond her control. The tears kept on coming.

Lou had cried herself to oblivion and she'd reduced herself to this weak state she was in. And Amy knew this. Had Mitch not told her, she would've figured it out herself—Lou looked so pale and completely worn out. Her eyes were red and her face was drained of colour.

Amy wasn't sure what she was meant to do or say to her sister. Katie's death had hit the entire family hard, and Amy knew how broken Georgie and Peter were, but when she looked at her sister, Amy realized that this was what it looked like to have your entire world crash around you.

Katie had been her baby, and Lou had raised her and protected her with every ounce of love that she had.

The nine months that she'd carried her daughter hadn't been easy, either. After the delivery, Amy remembered being seated on the sofa beside Lou and her newborn niece. And Lou had turned toward Amy, and smiled the brightest smile imaginable. There was a twinkle in her eye that said that all those pain-staking months had been so worth it, that she would go through it all over again just for her baby. Just for Katie.

Amy shut her eyes tight, pained. Thinking about all that Lou had gone through to bring Katie into the world… who would have known that they'd only have a few short years together…

Being a mother herself, Amy couldn't even let herself begin to imagine losing her own daughter. Lyndy was her lifeline, and without her, Amy wouldn't be able to continue the way that she did.

As impossible as life would be now, Amy thought, at least Lou still had Georgie. Had she lost both her daughters that day…Amy wasn't sure what the situation would have been like today.

Lou moved a quivering hand to take her oxygen mask off, and she pulled it down and let it rest awkwardly at the base of her neck.

Amy was suddenly alarmed. "Lou, don't you need that…?"

Lou shook her head ever so slightly, dismissing Amy's concern. "Georgie?" She asked in a whisper.

The question was simple, but Amy understood what Lou needed from her. She nodded her head. "She was in town when I left the house. I called her, and she said she'll be on her way here."

"When did you call her?" Lou asked, her voice strained.

Amy looked at her sister. She couldn't believe how sick she looked. _I've never seen her like this before._ "Just a few minutes ago. Before I got to your room." Amy moved to stroke her sister's hair. "I love you," she felt the need to say.

Lou's eyes began to water, and she closed them for a moment. "Amy…"

"Yeah, I'm here. We can sit here in silence. I can hold you. Or if you want to cry your heart out, unload your burden…I'm here for that as well."

Lou was stunned for a quick moment; Amy had known exactly what she needed…she just needed her sister to be there. She breathed in sharply.

"We're never going to forget Katie. I promise you," Amy said, conviction in her voice.

A wave of relief washed over Lou, her heart feeling just a little less heavier than it did just moments before. "That's the first time in days anyone's said her name…" Lou cried out. "Please, never stop saying her name," Lou breathed out, pleading to her sister.

"I won't."

"Katie was…" Lou began, her voice a deathly whisper. "She was the beat of my heart. I can't forget her."

"And you won't," Amy reassured.

"I wonder…" Lou said, in a daze, her vision completely unfocused. "What was going on inside my daughter's mind…in that last moment. Right before…"

Amy turned her head to the side, trying to shield herself from the brunt of Lou's words.

"The pain she must have been in…she must have been terrified… "

"Lou—" Amy tried to stop her from speaking any further.

Lou turned her face and buried it in the pillow. She wept quietly and gently. The effects of the sedative had made it so she could barely do anything except weep silently.

Mitch was suddenly startled and his need to protect Lou pulled him to the other side of the bed, and he quickly pulled her into his arms, holding her tight.

"She was dead on the scene—there was nothing anybody could have done—"

"Lou, hey…" Mitch began.

"There wasn't enough time… I didn't get to say goodbye—" Lou broke off, losing her voice.

Amy sat in her spot, completely frozen. She watched as Mitch held Lou so fiercely and yet he was so careful all at the same time. Amy felt her eyes begin to sting, the tears threatening to fall down her face. She finally blinked and looked down, and as she did, she saw the droplets fall onto the pale white bed sheets.

Amy became aware of footsteps approaching outside, and she suddenly became alert when the doorknob turned. She stood, quickly moving to wipe her tears. Amy backed away to the foot of the bed and held onto the frame for support.

As the door opened, and Georgie appeared, Amy noticed that her niece seemed disheveled, her face was drained of colour and the way she carried herself, it seemed she would collapse at any moment.

The first thing that Georgie saw when she walked in was her mother trembling and crying out, and she immediately felt her legs buckle, but she held onto the wall. Then she locked eyes with her stepdad, who gestured for her to walk closer.

Georgie forced herself forward, and as she fell in the spot that Lou wasn't occupying and she called out. "Mom?"

Lou suddenly stopped trembling, and as Mitch sat up straight, Georgie moved a hand to Lou's hair.

Seeing the state that she was in, Georgie felt her throat close up, and she felt a shudder pass through her heart. Without even thinking, she moved to wipe away all of Lou's tears.

"Georgie—tell me, was your sister crying? Was she scared…?" Lou asked, desperately wanting to know but also being so, so afraid.

Georgie's head went up, she was stunned. Her throat went heavy, and she moved a hand to cover her lips. After she had composed herself, Georgie spoke in a low voice. "I was more scared than she was. Once Katie realized what was happening, she turned to me and said to me to…she told me to tell you and Dad that she hadn't been afraid…" Georgie trailed off, looking down. She nodded her head a little. "And she hadn't been. She was brave, the bravest I've ever seen her."

Lou felt as if she could scream and cry out, and never stop. But physically, that wasn't possible right now. She shut her eyes tight, tilting her head back to open up her airway. "She hadn't been afraid, she was fine. She was fine…"

The muscles in Georgie's face tightened. Katie had always been her strength, her comfort. She could always make Georgie hurt less when she was hurting so much. _I miss her, I miss her so much._

Georgie remembered hugging her sister, holding her close for as long as she possibly could in those last few moments. And as she felt Katie's hold on her loosen, the terrifying realization dawned on her. Georgie called out Katie's name, and her voice slowly rose in volume until she was screaming her name. Georgie shook her, moving an arm to cradle her head and trying in vain to awaken her.

Georgie's remembered how her screams slowly became indecipherable as they ripped through her abdomen. She remembered screaming for a very, very long time. She had been so consumed by her pain and her shock, that she hadn't even realized how raw her throat had become, how in need of resting her eyes she was.

"She was braver than I was," Georgie spoke, her voice quiet and low, but at the same time it held the same pain she had felt that day, and the pain she would continue to feel for the rest of her life.

A tear slipped down the side of Lou's face, and as she opened her eyes she saw Georgie's eyes glistening in the light. Lou lifted her hand from her side where it lay, and she moved it to grasp onto Georgie's wrist.

As soon as she felt Lou's touch, Georgie broke down. Her frame shuddered as she moved to kiss her mother's hand. "Promise me something," Georgie spilled out, her voice heavy from the crying. "Just get better, please. If I don't have you, then what do I have?" Georgie asked, the emotion raw in her words.

"Honey…"

Georgie still held onto Lou's hand as she moved forward to plant a kiss on her mother's temple. "That's all I ask," she said against Lou's hair.

* * *

**A/N: I know, it's been a while. And I'm _so_ sorry. I just got wrapped up with work, and now school has started and I don't know how to manage my time.**

**I know you guys want the details on what happened, but I don't want to rush it. I have this story really planned out and I want to be able to give the readers the details properly, don't want to throw it out just for the sake of it, if that makes sense. Funny thing, I was going through my notebook from grade ten (I'm now in year 1 university) and I realized I have been playing with this concept of the Heartland family (mainly Lou and Georgie) being torn apart by a tragedy and them trying to make sense of the world and each other after everything's fallen to pieces. I'm letting you guys know this so that you know I'm not giving up on this story, it means a lot to me. As does_ Deserving_.**

**So thank you to my readers, your support means a ton to me. Let me know what you guys want to see more of, and I'll do my best to make it happen.**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Please read to the end, there's an important author's note under the story chapter :)**

* * *

Georgie had pulled up a chair and had been sitting in silence beside her mom for the past little while. She held Lou's hand as she sat there.

Lou called out Georgie's name. Her voice was barely audible, but Georgie heard right away. "Yeah? Do you need something?" She asked, already getting up.

Lou looked at Georgie, trying to figure out how on earth she would possibly say what was on her mind.

"Are you okay? Is something wrong?" Georgie asked, looking from Lou to Amy, then back again.

Lou shook her head. "No, honey…I need to talk to you about—" Lou broke off, inhaling. It was difficult for her to continue craning her neck to look at her daughter. She gestured to the empty space beside her, motioning for Georgie to sit down.

Georgie did just that. "What is it?" She asked, her voice apprehensive.

"What you said that night at the hospital…to Jade…"

Georgie was confused. "What? When was Jade here?" Her friend was supposed to have come with her today, but Georgie had left the diner as fast as she possibly could.

"When you were admitted…"

Georgie's eyebrows shot up, the wrinkles between them disappearing quickly. "Mom, what are you—"

"I've been thinking about what you said, and the way you've been acting these past few days…" Lou began, her voice quieting, getting choked up.

"Mom, no, no, no…" Georgie placed a hand to Lou's cheek. "It's—everything's okay. Don't do this."

"Did you mean what you said?" Lou whispered, her voice sharp.

Georgie stopped, looking at her mom, a heartbroken look on her face. _I swear, if that's what put her in here…_

"If you think, even for a second— "

"No, no…I was in a lot of pain, and it was driving me nuts. And I was mad. If I said anything, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it."

There was a vacancy in Georgie's eyes that told Lou everything she needed to know. She had meant it. Lou turned her head, looking down and away.

Georgie's hold on Lou slipped and she moved her hand back to rest on the mattress on the other side of Lou. "Mom, look at me. Please," Georgie's voice crumbled.

"I tried talking to you about it, but every time, you just dismissed it…just like you did now…" Lou voiced, looking away and to the side.

"What do you want me to say? Honestly, what do I say? I'm doing my best, I'm trying to be here for you, trying to make sure that you get better—"

"I'm only ever going to get better if you're okay!" Lou suddenly burst, her eyes blazing like torches.

Georgie felt her heart crawl into her throat. Her hand travelled to the side of her head as she felt a pang go through her temple. She heard Amy shift behind her, but Georgie immediately brought her hand back down. She breathed in, trying to calm herself. "I am…I swear."

Silence ensued. Georgie sat there in a daze, completely unaware of what was happening around them. It was like she was in a sound bubble, and she could only see or realize what was going on with Lou, and nothing else.

When Amy placed a hand on her shoulder, though, Georgie looked up. "Hmm?"

"The doctor's here."

Unsettled, Georgie immediately stood, turning around to look to her side as the doctor came to stand in front of them at the foot of the bed. From the corner of her eye, Georgie saw Mitch stand up as well, and move toward the doctor a little bit.

"You must be Georgie," said Dr. Wilson.

The girl nodded. "Yeah, yeah—I'm Lou's daughter."

The doctor noticed the scratches on the side of Georgie's face, and the faded cut on her forehead. A look flashed across his face, but he didn't say anything.

Instead, he looked toward Mitch. "The tests that we performed a couple nights ago, they have all been pointing to the right direction. What happened to your wife…" he trailed off. "Your mother," he said, looking to Georgie. "It was a reaction to the grief and trauma she's faced."

Lou internally recoiled at what the doctor was saying because she remembered being in the hospital all those years ago when Amy had been temporarily blinded. She remembered coming home and finally telling Georgie what had been going on, and she remembered her daughter running out into the barn at one point, tears streaming down her face. When Lou had arrived in the barn, Georgie was hugging Phoenix, holding him close, crying into him.

Lou had walked over to her, pulled her in a loving embrace and held her for a very long time. How she wished she could do the same for her now. Lou knew she wasn't a young girl anymore, and she probably didn't need protecting. But to her, Georgie would always be that eleven year old who had made her way onto Lou's doorstep all those years ago.

Georgie looked down at Lou, who didn't seem to react at all to the doctor's words. Or maybe a storm was surging inside her mother, Georgie didn't know.

"While she's under our care, we need to continue to monitor progress, and make sure we're right on track."

"So…? What are you guys going to do now?" Mitch asked him.

"Right now, we're going to perform an ECG and an echocardiogram."

"How long will that take?" Mitch stepped forward a little.

"The ECG shouldn't take more than ten minutes. One of you can stay in here with Lou, and once that's done, the sonographer will come in for the echo and it'll take around an hour to complete."

"So we can't stay in here for the echo?" Georgie finally found her voice.

"I'm afraid not, but there's nothing stopping you from waiting right on the other side of this door."

Georgie looked toward Amy, an apprehensive look on her face. Amy simply nodded, trying to reassure and make Georgie feel better.

"Okay, so once the nurse arrives, she's going to ask two of you to step out of the room, if that's alright."

Amy and Mitch nodded, while Georgie fell back into her chair.

"Alright, I'll see you guys in a bit," the doctor said, excusing himself from the room.

When the nurse arrived a few minutes later, Amy was quick on her feet. She walked over to Georgie, putting a hand to her back. "Hey, let's go."

Georgie numbly moved to kiss Lou's hand, but when stood and slipped away from her mother's grasp, she felt Lou grab onto her wrist as firmly as she could.

Georgie turned back to Lou. "Mom, I'm going to be right outside. Mitch will be here with you for a few more minutes."

Lou shook her head slightly, keeping a firm hand on Georgie's arm.

It took Georgie a few moments to realize that Lou wanted her to be the one to stay, the one to help her through the procedure. Georgie placed a hand by her mother's hair, and spoke gently. "Okay, I'll stay, I'll stay…" she trailed off, looking toward Mitch, almost apologetically.

But Mitch smiled. Mitch was glad that Lou had expressed her needs to Georgie, and he knew how relieved his step-daughter was in this moment. "That's perfectly fine," he said, moving to kiss Lou's forehead. "I'll see you in a little while."

Once Mitch and Amy had left, the nurse spoke to Georgie. "You want to help your mom sit up, hon? Lean her against the pillows."

"Yeah, yeah," Georgie answered, reaching out her left hand for Lou to hold onto. Georgie placed her other hand to Lou's back to support her as she sat up.

Lou leaned into Georgie's embrace as her daughter moved to readjust the pillows for her to lean back on. As gently as she could, Georgie helped Lou lean back.

The nurse adjusted the bed so that Lou was in much more of a sitting position. She began to work over Lou, bringing out alcohol pads and ECG electrodes. She smiled at Lou. "My name is May. I hope you're doing well."

Georgie looked toward Lou, who seemed to nod a little at the nurse. After a moment, she whispered, "Lou."

"It's nice to meet you, Lou," the nurse smiled brightly again.

Georgie looked away as the nurse began to attach the electrodes to her mother's skin.

As the woman worked, Georgie had a lot of quiet thinking time to herself. Once the nurse had gone, Georgie fell into the chair again. "I get it now."

Lou turned toward her very slightly.

"Right when I got out of the precinct, I should've gone to the hospital. Delaying getting help, it only made it worse for me, and I know how much it rattled you and Dad. I'm so sorry, I thought I was doing the right thing by rushing home to you. I just wanted to be under the same roof as you, so that when you woke up, I'd be there…"

"Georgie…"

"Dad told me that you had blacked out, and I couldn't think or do anything except get home at that point."

Lou's lips parted, and she inhaled. She hadn't even thought about that.

"But…you were right, I was fighting myself. I won't do it anymore. I won't, and I need you to know that I'm going to work on my recovery. And as hard as it is, please stop worrying about me. I promise to take my meds, and I promise to rest, and… I'm fine, I'm here." Georgie wasn't entirely sure if she meant what she was saying, but she tried to make her voice sound as sincere as possible, as convincing as possible. Lou had to be okay, and Georgie wasn't about to let her mom slip through her fingers.

Lou's eyes filled with tears. "Honey…"

"You told me to quit fighting with myself, and I will. I'll stop, I promise you. I realize that me being stupid and irresponsible is partly what put you in here, that it's still on your mind…so I promise you. I'll be careful."

Lou sighed. "Thank you, thank you, honey…"

Georgie nodded. "All I want is to be able to be here for you…I swear I won't do what I've been doing these past few days."

Lou felt a huge weight lift off of her chest. It was as if she could finally begin to breathe. "Georgie, honey. I've been so afraid…the things that you said—"

Georgie's face was stricken with grief. "I'm sorry, for everything. If I said anything or did anything that upset you or worried you, just know that it was just my anger talking. I'm alright, I promise."

"You just lost your sister, it's okay to not be alright just yet…but please…" Lou moved to hold onto Georgie's hands. "I love you so much, I need you to be responsible with yourself."

Georgie felt herself choke up. Unable to speak, she just nodded.

"And if you can do that, then that'll lift a huge weight off of me, and then I'll be able to get better."

"You _will_ get better. Everything is pointing in the right direction, you just need to find some faith," Georgie said, placing a hand to Lou's arm, leaning forward to hug her mother.

* * *

Amy and Georgie sat outside Lou's room and waited for the sonographer to finish up inside with the echo. It had been around thirty minutes already, and Amy guessed it wouldn't be too long before they could go in again. She turned to look over at Georgie, who was leaning her head back against the wall, resting her eyes.

"Georgie?"

Georgie opened her eyes, and turned her head toward her aunt. "Yeah?" She asked in a whisper.

"Did something happen today…? You seemed really off on the phone…when I called you."

Georgie nodded, biting her lip. "You know about the newspapers?"

Amy inhaled sharply. "Georgie—"

"Does Mom know? Did you tell her?"

"I haven't mentioned it to her."

"Okay, please don't. She's already…" Georgie trailed off, shaking her head.

Amy nodded. "I know, I won't. But…what happened today?"

Georgie shook her head again. "Nothing, it was nothing," she lied, too ashamed to tell Amy what had really happened.

Amy sighed. She desperately wanted to know what her niece was hiding, but she also didn't want to push her. "Sweetheart, listen to me. I'm not Lou, you can tell me things without worrying that I'll break like glass…"

Georgie didn't say anything for a moment. "I'm going to worry like this forever…I mean, I didn't even realize until now what put Mom in the hospital. Dad and Mitch kept saying that it was because of my arrest, and I believed them, because it only made sense. Because she thought she'd—" she broke off, swallowing for a moment. "...I don't know, almost lost the both of us. But I realize now that…"

Amy watched her, listening carefully.

"If I had known that my actions would put her in here, I would have listened to Dad. I would have—I would have been way more careful with myself. But I didn't even think this could happen…"

"Georgie, she's going to know what's going on with you whether or not you say anything…she can read you like an open book. If you're acting a certain way, or there's a tone in your voice, she's going to know. That's how careful you have to be."

"I know, and I will be. But…" Georgie sighed. "Do you have any idea what people are saying about me?"

"What…?" Amy asked, the fear evident in her voice.

"That the police let a murderer walk out."

Amy's head turned sharply toward Georgie. "_Honey, no. _You know the truth, we all do. That's what we should be focusing on."

"I don't even know if I care what other people think…I'm just terrified that their words are going to reach Mom and Dad, and they'll start to think that as well." Georgie pursed her lips, and her gaze went unfocused, distant. "I miss her, Amy. I miss her so much, it's like I've lost a piece of my heart. And I can barely breathe, I can't even—how am I going to do this? How am I going to take care of Mom? How will I do anything—?"

"You're not alone. You have Mitch, your dad, Grandpa. There's me. We're all here, we're not going anywhere."

"I just want her to get better. As soon as possible."

"She will be, very soon."

"You think she'll ever smile again?"

Amy was surprised at the question. She sighed. "One day, I'm sure."

"I'm terrified I'm never going to see her happy, ever again. The most precious thing in her life was taken away, and now…"

"She has you, and you're just as precious to her as your sister."

"I don't know about that, Amy," Georgie said, pausing for a moment but then quickly speaking again, afraid that Amy would try to convince her otherwise, try to make her feel better. "Do you think they're almost done in there?"

"It might still be a little while. These echoes take around fifty minutes to an hour, and we've only been waiting for about thirty."

"Right."

* * *

Mitch had arrived back to Lou's room just in time, and once the sonographer had left, he quickly slipped into the room.

"Lou, honey," he said, walking around to the other side of the bed. Mitch slipped his shoes off and lay down beside Lou, pulling her into a hug. He felt at ease once Lou rested her head on his shoulder.

He noticed that Lou's breathing was uneven, and this troubled him. He quickened his breathing to match with Lou's and once he was sure they were in sync, Mitch slowed his breathing. After a few moments, Mitch sensed his wife's breathing beginning to slow down as well. It became more consistent, and she seemed to be at ease. His own heart was put at ease, and he moved to kiss her hair. "Lou?"

"Yeah."

"You alright? The echo wasn't too bad?"

Lou shook her head.

"Okay," he voiced softly. Mitch was unsure what to say, how to carry on the conversation. He wasn't even sure that Lou was in the mood to talk.

"I spoke to Georgie," she let out after a few seconds.

"Oh, yeah? What did she say?"

"A lot of things. But she promised me, she said she'll be more careful."

Mitch exhaled heavily, beyond relieved. "That's great, Lou."

"I can't imagine what my daughter's going through. She lost her birth parents in a car crash, and now…her old wounds must have opened up, she…"

"Hey, hey…"

"She's always carried that weight on her shoulders, and now…" Lou trailed off.

Mitch held onto Lou tighter. "It's something that never really goes away, I know. The guilt is so consuming, sometimes you think it'll swallow you up…"

"I wish I had been there with Katie, in those last few moments. I didn't get to say goodbye, and that's…it's going to drive me insane for the rest of my life…Mitch, how am I supposed to…?"

"I don't think Katie would have wanted you to see her in so much pain."

"I know, I know," Lou cried. "But I just…if I had been there, I could've held her, protected her."

"You always protected Katie. Do you not remember that day? You hugged her goodbye, you told Katie you loved her…you did get your goodbye."

Lou let out a shocked breath. "I didn't remember that…" she said in almost a daze. She turned into him, burying her face in the crook of his neck. "Thank you, Mitch. Thank you…" she cried softly, grabbing onto him as tight as she could.


	13. Chapter 13

Over a week later, Mitch walked out of the bedroom of the ranch house and was heading toward the kitchen when his eye caught sight of Georgie in the living room. She leaned her head back on the sofa, resting her eyes. "Georgie?"

"Hmm?" Georgie sat up straight, moving toward the edge of the seat. "What's up?" She asked intently, ready to spring into action if something was wrong or if her parents needed her for something. Lou had returned home a few nights ago, but Georgie was still getting used to the new routine.

It took Mitch a moment to catch onto the fact that she had asked him something. "Uh, n—nothing. I just came in to make some coffee."

Georgie nodded. "Is she awake yet?"

"Yeah, she is. I figured I'd get everyone caffeinated first, and then get started on breakfast."

Mild panic flooded through Georgie. "Wait, for Lou as well? There's—there's the decaf that Jack keeps handy. I'm sure it's hidden somewhere in there, behind all those jars," Georgie offered. After a moment, "You know, for Mom."

"Oh, yeah…" Mitch's voice lowered, and he nodded his head towards the direction of Lou's room. "I hadn't even thought of that."

Georgie sensed the change in Mitch's demeanour. He suddenly seemed more tense, agitated. "I didn't mean it like that. I just think it's best to be on the safe side, that's all."

Mitch smiled. "Yeah, I know," his voice came out soft and gentle.

Georgie stood, and walked over to her stepfather. Nervously, she crossed one arm across her torso and brought her other arm up to hold onto her elbow. "She's fine, right? I mean, she—how's she doing? Has she said anything?"

"About what exactly?" Mitch asked carefully, not wanting to say the wrong thing and throw Georgie off completely.

_About me,_ she wanted to say. "I don't know. Anything, really."

Mitch nodded. "Well, not exactly. But there's this dress that Lou wanted to get for your sister."

Georgie's head went up. "For her birthday," she remembered. Lou had begun planning for Katie's twelfth birthday over a month ago. Everything had to be perfect, and the dress had been no exception.

"I've been thinking about it as well. And I want to buy it for Lou, so that…"

"So at least this one thing won't be left unfinished," Georgie answered for him.

"Yeah, exactly."

"Do you want me to get the computer out, and you can go make coffee in the meantime? I can try and help you out with breakfast after."

"Yeah. Yeah, sure…do you know which website to find it on?"

Georgie nodded wordlessly.

As Mitch slipped into the kitchen, Georgie walked to the steps and then went up into her room to get her computer.

She quickly grabbed it and walked back down the stairs. Once Georgie had pulled up the site, she heard Mitch's footsteps arrive.

As her stepfather came and sat down in the seat, she turned to him. "Was it pink?"

Mitch nodded, the slightest smile appearing at his lips. "It was."

"Okay, you tell me when you see it," Georgie turned the computer screen towards him.

"Sash…it had a sash, and floral patterning…" Mitch mumbled, trying to remind himself of what it looked like as he focused on the screen.

After a moment, Georgie stopped scrolling. "Was it this one?" She asked, moving her cursor over it on the screen.

Mitch exhaled, relieved that they had somehow found it. "Yeah, that's the one."

But the relief was short-lived. "Mitch, it's out of stock."

"What…?"

"Yeah, it's sold out…"

"Oh no, what am I going to do now…?" Mitch asked almost to himself, putting his head in his hands.

"You told her you'd get it?" Georgie's voice was hinted with dread.

"Well, no, I didn't really say anything, but…"

"Okay, then don't say anything. Not until I can figure something out…"

"Figure something out? Georgie, you just said—" Before Mitch could say anything more, he saw a mark on the inside of Georgie's right forearm. "What is that?" Mitch looked at the injury pointedly.

When Georgie realized he had seen it, she placed a hand on her arm and rode her sleeve down. "Nothing, it's nothing." _Crap._

"Well, how did you get it?"

"I don't remember."

Mitch stared at her for a moment. "You don't...remember?" He asked, pressing his voice purposefully. How could she forget? "Georgie, look at me for a second."

Georgie suddenly closed the lid of her laptop and stood. "Mom," she said, announcing Lou's presence in the room.

Lou looked between the two of them. "Is everything okay?" She asked quietly.

Mitch stood as well. "Oh, yeah—I was just waiting for the coffee to get done, so I figured I'd come here and give Georgie some company."

Lou was unconvinced. "You guys began scrambling as soon as you saw me…hon, is everything alright with you?" Lou asked her daughter.

Amy's words returned to Georgie. _She can read you like an open book._ Georgie visibly relaxed herself, releasing the tense muscles in her face. "Everything's fine. I just wasn't expecting you to come out here, it caught me off-guard."

Mitch took charge of the situation. He stood, putting his arms around Lou, turning her in the direction of their room. "Why don't we get you inside?"

Lou looked at Georgie one last time. "Georgie."

The girl nodded her head dismissively. "Mom, I'm telling you. It's all okay."

"Lou, you really shouldn't be out here. Let's go inside," Mitch repeated in a low voice.

"Wait, why did you come out here?" Georgie asked, still rattled that she'd been caught off-guard, _twice_, under thirty seconds.

"I just, I heard your voice. I wanted to see you."

Georgie paused a moment, not knowing what she should say. She didn't want her mom to go back inside the room but she also didn't want all the attention on her. "Do you want to come into the kitchen? Mitch and I were about to make breakfast," she said, reaching for Lou's hand, and the both of them, along with Mitch, headed into the kitchen.

Mitch and Georgie got to work. When Georgie got started on something for Lou, she continued to consult Mitch about anything she should be careful about adding, or not adding at all.

When she was finished, Georgie brought the food over to the roundtable and Mitch then excused himself for a quick moment, saying he was going to go and grab Lou's meds, that he would be back in a minute. "You two get started with breakfast. I'll be back," he said, getting out of his seat and walking out of the kitchen.

Georgie turned to look at Lou, who was holding her coffee mug loosely in her hands. She was staring numbly in front of her.

Georgie wanted to hug her mom, badly. But she wasn't sure if she should, if Lou would even welcome it. She hesitantly brought a hand around Lou's shoulder and when her mother didn't move, Georgie leaned in closer and pressed her lips to her Lou's hair, planting a kiss. "Hey, why don't you eat something?"

It took Lou a couple of moments to register that Georgie had said something to her. She brought her hand up to her arm to rest over Georgie's. "Are you going to sit down as well?"

"Yeah, yeah. Sure," Georgie said as she moved to sit down. "The coffee okay?" Georgie asked in a desperate attempt to hear Lou's voice again, however quiet. "It's actually the decaf, I thought we should just be careful."

Lou looked down at her coffee, which she hadn't even begun to drink yet. She just nodded.

* * *

An hour or so later, Georgie sat outside on the porch, her phone in hand. She was thinking of calling the designer in Calgary, trying to get a hold of the dress.

Mitch had been on his way to join Jack in the fields and he saw her as he stepped outside. "Hey, what are you doing out here?"

"I'm trying to see if the designer still has the dress. She has a store in Calgary. Mom's been there with Katie a bunch of times. I just…I think I'll try calling…" Georgie said, already distracted.

After a few rings, a woman picked up on the other end. She asked Georgie how she could be of help.

"Yeah, I'm looking for this dress…" Georgie began, naming the garment. "Do you guys still have it in your store…?" The desperation was creeping into her voice.

"I'm really sorry, but we sold out a couple of days ago."

Georgie slapped a hand to her face. "Are you sure you guys don't still have it? Can you please double check? I just really need this dress…please."

The woman on the other end didn't ask the reason, but from the sound of Georgie's voice, she understood it was important. "We do have other locations across the region. I can check in for you, see if they still have any left in stock."

"Yes, please! That would be perfect. Thank you."

"Of course. Please hold for a few moments."

While Georgie waited on the line, she turned back to Mitch. "She's checking to see if the dress is still available somewhere…"

Mitch simply nodded, unsure of what to say.

After a few minutes, the woman came back on the line. "I have good news. The dress is available at our Edmonton location in a number of sizes. I can call in and place an order for you. We can have it delivered to this location, or we can have it ready for you to pick up at the Edmonton location."

Georgie couldn't believe her ears. The dress was available, like actually available. "Uh, how—how long will it take to arrive at your location?"

"Since the weekend is coming up, it probably won't be shipped by Monday and then it may take another two or three days to arrive."

"Okay, I'll just go to the Edmonton location and pick it up."

"Of course. What name should I place with the order then?"

As Georgie spoke on the phone and took care of the details of the order, she paced a little back and forth until eventually she came to stand by the foot of the bed.

Mitch watched his stepdaughter for a moment, feeling relieved that she had been able to locate the dress. Or else the silent promise he had made to Lou would have been broken. Georgie had made sure that didn't happen.

"Yeah. I'll be there by six, at the most," Georgie said, looking at the clock. It was nearing two pm right now. "Yup, sounds good. Thanks so much."

When Georgie got off the call, she looked toward Mitch. "Okay, I'm going to go."

"What? By yourself?"

"Well, do I really have a choice?"

"Yeah! I can come with you."

"No, you need to stay. Mom needs you here." Georgie cleared her throat. "I guess I'll call up Jade. She had a day off today, so…"

Mitch nodded. "Okay, good."


	14. Chapter 14

Meanwhile, Peter stepped into Lou's room and gently knocked on the door that was already pretty wide open. "Hey."

Lou sat in her bed, surrounded by a bunch of Katie's things. She looked up when she heard his voice. "Peter," she breathed out.

Peter walked closer and moved to sit on the bed. He looked around the bed, and there were some of Katie's old toys, some of her clothes, and her diaries laid out on the mattress.

"Lou, what are you doing with all this stuff?" He asked, picking up an old journal. "I mean, what's the point?"

Lou simply stared in front of her for a moment, and then spoke. "If you really think about it, what's the point to any of this? What are we still doing here?"

Peter exhaled. "You can't mean that."

"I think that…you, of all people, would understand that I do mean what I'm saying."

Peter quieted a moment, running his thumb along the spine of the notebook. "You're right. It's taking everything I've got not to just drive my car into the lake, and drown the pain away."

Lou inhaled sharply, as if on impact. "Don't."

"If you can barely handle listening to me talk about this, then how do you think I'm handling it? Or Mitch? Or even Georgie—please tell me you haven't said anything to her."

Lou was quiet for a moment, and she seemed to be in her own thoughts, barely aware of what Peter was saying to her. "You know, a few days before the accident…I remember I was tucking her in for the night, and Katie mentioned how beautiful your laugh was."

Peter looked up, his eyes widening in surprise. "She did?"

Lou nodded. "Katie told me that she thought you had the most beautiful laugh out of everyone we knew, that she was looking forward to hearing it the next time you came to visit."

Peter felt a stabbing pain go through his chest, and his lungs were suddenly screaming for air. He inhaled deeply, moving to sit closer to Lou.

Lou looked at Peter, whose head hung low. She moved a hand to gently cup his face. "You know, she spoke about you everyday. Without fail."

"It feels like she spent most of her young life waiting for her father to come home and visit…"

Lou moved back, looking at him. "That's not true. She was a happy kid…you know, with a bright smile, and a promising future…"

Peter inhaled deeply when he sensed Lou's change in tone.

"We're never going to see her grow up and get married, or have kids of her own," Lou said, the realization hitting her. "I mean, maybe this was all the time we were meant to have with her, you know? Just a few short years."

"Maybe."

"I wish I had known that, from the very beginning—" Lou's voice broke, and she brought a hand over her mouth to muffle the sobs.

A wave of desperation overcame Peter and he was finally compelled to look up. He leaned in to hug Lou, pressing a hand to her back.

"I keep waiting for her to come back, but she doesn't. And she won't. I don't know how I'm supposed to—"

Peter held on tighter. "I know, me too."

* * *

_Katie stormed into Georgie's room and angrily sat across from her sister on the bed._

"_Oh no, what happened this time?" Georgie asked, knowing full well that Katie must have had a fight with Lou._

_Katie groaned. "It's just that there's this dress that I wanted, like really wanted. And Mom just said no!"_

_Georgie laughed. "Oh."_

"_This isn't funny, okay?! I mean, you always seem to get whatever you ask for."_

"_Please, that's only because I don't ask for ridiculous things like you do."_

"_Ridiculous? It was just a dress! Honestly, sometimes it feels like Mom loves you more than she loves me."_

_Georgie raised an eyebrow. "Are you serious? You're the one she gave birth to, remember? I'm the adopted one."_

"_Oh my God, would you just let me complain for a second without throwing that in my face!?"_

_Georgie was taken aback. "Calm down. I was just pointing out the truth."_

"_No, you were throwing it in my face. Honestly, what is your problem? Did you not realize how much it pissed me off the last time?"_

_Georgie looked at her. "Is that why you didn't talk to me for a week?"_

_Katie breathed in deeply, trying to keep herself composed. "I can't believe how clueless you are sometimes."_

_Georgie exhaled, perplexed. "Okay, I'm sorry. I didn't realize…"_

"_Yeah, well, you should be."_

_Georgie looked at her sister. "Hey. I love you."_

_Katie rolled her eyes. "Yeah, okay. If that's the case, then let's go into town and get that dress."_

"_Katie, come on. If Mom said no, then she probably has a reason for it. Just wait it out, I'm sure she'll get you something better."_

"_How are you so sure?"_

_Georgie shrugged a shoulder. "I just know Mom. She always wants the best of the best for both me and you. Don't doubt her."_

_Katie groaned. "I hate it when you sound all reasonable! I just want the stupid dress."_

_Georgie laughed. "Okay, fine. If it means that much to you, I'll go talk to Mom."_

_Katie's eyes twinkled. "Now?"_

"_Yes, now," Georgie sighed, getting up. She put on her slippers and then headed down the stairs and made her way into the living room. _

_And there was Lou, seated on the sofa. She had her laptop open and she was scrolling through the site. Georgie came and sat down beside her. "Hey, what are you doing?"_

_Lou glanced over at her, the muscles in her face were tense. She sighed, "Katie really wants this dress, and she…"_

"_Yeah, she told me," Georgie said mindlessly as she gazed at the computer screen._

"_Her and I just had this huge fight—"_

_Georgie laughed a little. "Okay, first of all, that's just Katie. She's a kid, she wants to get her way. And second, I think what just happened was probably a small-scale fight. Don't take what she said to heart."_

_Lou smiled a little, shaking her head. "I guess so…"_

"_Is that the dress?" Georgie nodded to the one Lou had her cursor over._

"_Yup. And I mean, it's not a bad dress, it's just that there's this new collection that's supposed to be released in a few days, and I don't want her to miss out on it."_

_Georgie nodded. There it was, the real reason Lou had said no. "Did you tell her that?"_

"_I didn't get a chance to. She stormed off before I could even get a word in."_

"_Okay, why don't you put this away for now, and you two can sort this out over dinner, or something."_

"_It's going to be a little difficult to get her to change her mind. You know how stubborn she is."_

"_Well, why don't we go out for dinner? That way, you two can sort this out under low pressure, and we can make a thing of it as well. We haven't really been outside together in a while."_

_Once Lou had closed the laptop and set it on the table in front of her, she turned to Georgie. "That's a great idea, actually. When do you want to head out?"_

_Georgie turned to look at the clock in the kitchen. It was nearing five p.m. "Let's go now, I guess. The drive into the city might take a while."_

"_Okay."_

"_I'll go tell Katie to get ready. We'll be out in a few."_

"_What if she says no?" Lou asked, a hint of worry in her voice._

"_She won't, trust me," Georgie said, planting a kiss to Lou's temple before heading back up the stairs._

* * *

_At the restaurant, the three of them were seated in a booth. Katie was seated on the inside, with Georgie beside her, and Lou sat across from them. They had just gotten their menus, and were deciding what to order._

_Lou put her menu down, and glanced at Katie. Her daughter was slouched in her seat, blocking her face with the menu in her hand. "Honey, what are you thinking of getting?"_

_When Katie didn't answer for a few seconds, Georgie nudged her. "She's asking you."_

"_Oh," Katie said, straightening in her seat. "Um, I don't know. You always seem to know what's best for me, so why don't you just order?"_

_Georgie dropped her menu onto the table surface in front of her, perplexed. "Katie. What did I say to you before we got here?"_

_Katie's eyes darted toward her sister, and then she looked to Lou. Her mom had a hand to her lips, she seemed to be on the verge of breaking. Startled, Katie reached forward across the table and put a hand over Lou's. "I'm sorry, I'm really sorry."_

_Lou inhaled deeply, bringing her hand down to rest on the table. She was blinking, trying to get rid of the tears in her eyes._

"_Look, I actually don't know what to get. Just order for me, please," Katie spoke in a gentle tone._

"_Yeah. For me as well," Georgie added as she closed her menu. "None of this makes any sense to me either," she said to Lou, hoping to make her feel better._

"_Alright, I'll just get us all the same thing, then," Lou said, wiping her eyes. She smiled a little._

_Georgie smiled, relieved. "Sounds good," she said, reaching into her pocket. Her phone had begun to ring. Taking it out of her pocket, she excused herself. "It's Quinn. I'll just be a minute."_

_When Georgie was out of earshot, Katie looked toward Lou. "Mommy."_

_Lou looked at her. "Yeah, honey?"_

_Katie sighed. "I don't want the stupid dress, okay? I'm really sorry for today. It's just that I saw it, and my friends were talking about it the other day, and…I just got caught up. But I don't want it, and I definitely don't need it."_

"_I can still get it for you. But I just wanted to wait a little, you know, until the new lineup was released. I didn't want you to miss out on that. We can wait it out for a couple of days, and once they're released, we can even go into town—"_

_Katie shook her head. "No. I don't want anything. Not this one, and not the ones that are coming."_

"_Are you sure?"_

"_Yeah. I am. And I'm sorry, too."_

_Lou shook her head. "It's alright, you don't have to—"_

"_No, I do…Georgie even said that you were just looking out for me, but I was so quick to get mad. I'm sorry for what I said, both just now and back at the house."_

_Lou smiled, a weight lifting off her chest. "You do know how much I love you, right?"_

_Katie nodded wordlessly. After a moment, she stood and sat down beside Lou. She wrapped her arms around her mom and leaned in for a hug._

_Lou returned the gesture and kissed Katie's hair. "I love you, baby. So much."_

"_I love you, too."_

_Georgie was standing near the exit as she spoke to Quinn on the phone. When she turned, she met her mother's gaze from across the room. When she took in the scene of Katie cuddled up in Lou's arms, her heart began to gush._

_Lou mouthed a thank you to Georgie, who simply gestured a kiss back to her mother._

* * *

_When they arrived home, Katie ran off into the barn to see her horse, so it was just Lou and Georgie in the house._

"_That went way better than I expected," Georgie began, taking her coat off. _

"_Yeah, it did…"_

"_Are you okay? I mean, I know she came off a little harsh in the beginning, but—"_

_Lou waved her worry away. "Oh yeah, I'm fine. I wanted to thank you, though. You're really good with her, and she listens to you."_

"_I don't know about that. We have our fair share of name-calling and hair-pulling."_

_Lou looked at Georgie, her eyes widening in surprise._

_Georgie put a hand up. "I'm kidding, I promise."_

_A smile made its way onto Lou's face, and she laughed. "The two of you really know how to keep me on my toes."_

_Georgie walked over to Lou, embracing her. "I was kidding, don't worry."_

_Lou hugged her back, and sighed. "Thank you, you're the best. I don't know that I could've had a better daughter than you."_

"_Eh, I'm alright," Georgie mumbled, hugging Lou tighter. After a moment, she moved back and placed a hand to Lou's cheek. "You're okay, right? You've been a little out of sorts today."_

"_No, honey, you're imagining it."_

"_Is everything okay with you and Mitch? I haven't seen him all day."_

_Lou shook her head. "No, really, I'm good. You made me feel so much better today, I really don't know what I'd do without you. The both of you."_

_Georgie bit down on her lip to try to keep it from quivering. She nodded. "Okay, I'm going to choose to believe you."_

_Lou smiled. "Good."_

* * *

_When Mitch returned home later that night, Lou was the first to greet him. "Hey, there you are. I was about to call you."_

_Mitch silently took off his coat and hung it up on the rack. He stepped into the kitchen and wordlessly brought Lou into an embrace. He leaned into her, breathing her in. "I missed you today," he said after a few moments._

"_Are you okay? You seem so worn down," said Lou, bringing a hand to his face as she moved away from the hug._

_Mitch sighed. "Garland."_

_It was a simple answer, but Lou understood. "I thought you would've left hours ago. It's so late now," she said, looking at the clock. It was almost nine._

"_If the meeting had ended then, I would've been home right away."_

_Lou nodded, sighing in relief. "I thought you were purposefully avoiding me."_

"_Now why would you say something like that?"_

"_After what the doctor told us, I thought that—"_

"_No. No, that's not what today was about. But I admit, I did have some time to think about it."_

"_Mitch, I feel as if I've let you down. The fact that I can't give this one thing to you—"_

"_No, listen to me. You haven't let me down, okay? You could never. And you've given me everything I've ever wanted. I have a beautiful wife, two wonderful daughters…you can't even begin to imagine how lucky I am to be here, to be yours."_

_Lou's eyes filled with tears. "So, what are you saying?"_

"_I'm saying that…instead of pining over what could have been, what we could have had…let's just be thankful that we're all together, that we're all happy and healthy. We have everything we're ever going to need."_

"_But Mitch, you always spoke about—"_

"_I know. But we have Georgie and Katie. I consider them my daughters, you know that. We have everything we'll ever need to be happy."_

_Lou nodded, trying her best not to begin to cry again. "I know you're trying to be positive, but I just feel like you'll end up hating me."_

_Mitch exhaled heavily. "I could never hate you. I love you too much for that."_

_Lou was silent._

"_I'm such an idiot, I should've called to let you know that I would be late. I didn't even think…"_

_Lou shook her head. "It's fine, I'm fine."_

"_Are you sure about that?" Mitch asked her, placing a hand to her cheek. "Your eyes tell a different story."_

"_Mitch! There you are, finally," Georgie exclaimed as she entered the kitchen. When she came over to hug her stepfather, she said, "I'm sorry, I didn't hear your truck come in. I would've been down sooner."_

_Mitch smiled brightly. "Oh, no worries. Your mom and I were just catching up."_

_Georgie moved back and looked at the two of them. She was trying to read them, to see if things really were okay with them._

_Katie suddenly bolted into the room as well. "Mitch!" She screamed in delight, happy to see him home. She grabbed his hand and walked over to the living room._

"_What's goin' on?" Mitch asked._

"_You promised we would have a family game night."_

"_Oh, that's right…I did," Mitch said, remembering. He turned to look at Lou, raising both his eyebrows. "Well?"_

"_I'll go make some coffee," Lou said, smiling._

_Georgie turned at the sound of her mother's voice. It didn't hold the same burden and heaviness it did before. "I'll help."_

* * *

Jade had been waiting patiently for Georgie when she finally climbed into her friend's truck.

"Hey, sorry about that. I couldn't find my debit card for some reason, so I was just rummaging around."

"It's not a problem, but is everything alright? What's the deal with Edmonton?"

"Yeah, it is. There's this dress that Mom was looking at for Katie…it was meant for her birthday," Georgie said, moving to buckle her seatbelt. "And it was sold out online, and so I called the shop that designs it. They said they were sold out at the Calgary location as well, so I got them to place a hold on the dress in Edmonton."

"Okay…" Jade said thoughtfully. "Sounds good."

"And I didn't want to wait until next week for it to arrive. I don't even think there's time to wait that long, to be honest. I need to go get it now."

"Yeah, that's perfectly fine."

"I know it's a bit of a long drive, are you okay with that?"

"It's totally fine. Really." Jade smiled, moving to buckle her seatbelt as well. "Do you have an address for the store?"

"Yeah, I do. I'll set up the GPS."

"Great, let's go."

* * *

As they drove into Hudson, Georgie finally seemed to relax and lean her head back on the head rest.

"So? How is everything?" Jade asked.

Georgie nodded. "Yeah, everything's alright. At least, I think it will be from now on."

Jade turned to look at Georgie a second. "Oh, yeah? How's that?"

Georgie inhaled a little. "My mom heard what I said that night at the hospital. I mean, I don't know how much of it she heard, but enough…it's the reason she's in there now."

"Wait, what did you say to her?"

"Well, nothing. At least not to Lou. It was whatever I said to you when my parents were out in the hall."

Jade exhaled. "Oh, no. It kind of makes sense now."

"What?"

"Well, once you'd gone to sleep that night, your mom—"

"What? What'd she say?" Georgie was suddenly on edge.

"She said you'd been acting different, like you were afraid of looking her in the eye."

"Oh."

"I promised her I would talk to you, and I didn't."

"Why didn't you?"

"Part of the reason I stayed with you those first few nights was because I wanted to keep an eye on you. And you seemed to be getting better, even. So I didn't want to say anything that would mess that up."

"Yeah, I should've known not to say something that stupid…" Georgie trailed off, getting lost in thought. "Anyways, um…can we talk about something else?"

"Well…" Jade thought a moment. "I don't really know what else to talk about."

"Come on, what's new with you?" Georgie asked her friend. She desperately needed something else to think about, to have something to distract her from her consuming thoughts.

"Nothing much, to be honest with you. I mean, I've been done with school for a while now, and all I do is go around from rodeo to rodeo, winning buckles, losing some…"

Georgie looked at Jade a moment. "Why do you sound so down? You love the rodeo."

It took Jade a moment to register what Georgie had said. "Oh, yeah, I do. It's just that…it's become this routine, you know? And on top of that, I don't really have anyone to share my time with. I feel alone sometimes."

"Then maybe rodeo's not the problem. Your heart is looking for someone, that's all."

Jade laughed a little. "Yeah, but this isn't me. I have never needed, or wanted a guy. It's just not me."

Georgie paused a moment. "What happened with Trace? Did you guys lose touch?"

"Oh no, we're in touch. Yeah, he texts me everyday. The days we don't talk, I just feel like something is missing from my life."

Georgie's eyebrows rode up. "Oh?"

"No, it's not like that—"

"Then what's it like? Explain it to me."

Jade shook her head. "I don't know, Georgie. We haven't actually spoken face-to-face in so long. We're supposed to meet next week when he gets back from south of the border, so I guess I'll know more then." Jade laughed a little. "So?"

"So…?"

"Have you spoken to McGregor?"

Georgie's face fell. "No. I haven't even told him about Katie…"

"Oh, well…what's taking him so long to get back home to you?"

"His dad is sick, and he's stayed back to help take care of him."

"Oh, no…I'm so sorry."

"Yeah, and the whole reason I haven't told him anything is I'm afraid he'll drop everything and rush over here."

"I get that, but…you could do well with him being around."

Georgie nodded. "I do miss him. He left so unexpectedly, too. He called from the airport, saying he was headed back home, that his mom had called him in a panic. I even rushed my car to the stupid airport to try and see him one last time, but by the time I got there, his plane had taken off."

Jade sighed. "I'm sure he'll come back soon."

"I hope so," said Georgie, quieting.

A couple of minutes later, Georgie sat up in her seat. "Hey, could you make a turn here?"

Jade turned to look at Georgie as the car slowed. "Here…?" Jade asked hesitantly as she proceeded to make a turn.

"Yeah," Georgie answered quietly.

"What's here?"

"This is where the crash happened," Georgie said in a low voice.

"Oh my God, Georgie…"

"It hasn't even been that long since that day…and yet there's no sign that somebody even died here…they left behind nothing…"

Jade was deathly quiet. She was fighting a battle of her own, trying desperately to not start crying. The tears were stinging, threatening to fall.

"I miss her so much, I don't know how many more days I'll survive."

Jade clicked her tongue. "Georgie, come on. You're going to be just fine, okay?"

Georgie sighed.

The two of them didn't speak for a few moments, but then Jade began. "If you don't mind me asking…how did it happen?"

Georgie inhaled sharply, almost involuntarily. "I was about to make a turn here, right onto this road, and the other car drove into ours…they weren't even supposed to be on this side, their lane was to the left…"

Jade didn't say anything.

"I know. The way that it happened…it sounds almost underwhelming. It was over as soon as it had started. But the impact of the crash…it was too much for her to handle."

"There was nothing you could have done, Georgie."

"Except that she was in the passenger seat that day. When she shouldn't have been. When she climbed in, I should've told her no. My mom would never have allowed it…"

"Georgie, I mean, even if she'd been in the back…"

"I'm sure it would've made a difference."

Jade nodded. "It may have. But Georgie, it may not have. You can't obsess over this, it's going to completely mess you up. How are you going to complete the semester?"

"I already dropped all of my classes, so…"

"Oh. Okay, well…have you told anyone about this yet?"

"No. I'll tell them when the time is right."

"Alright."

"I just know I wouldn't have been able to write those exams…"

"Georgie, I get it. You don't need to explain yourself to me."

A slight smile appeared on Georgie's face. "Thanks."

Jade smiled back. "So? Do you need a minute or should we get going?"

Georgie looked out the window, taking in the scene that constantly showed up in her nightmares, everyday, without fail. "Let's just get out of here."

* * *

**A/N: Thoughts? xx**


	15. Chapter 15

Georgie returned home that night feeling accomplished. It had been a long day, and when she turned to look at the clock, she saw it was just past nine o'clock. She worried that Lou might be asleep; she kind of wanted to get this dress thing over and done with.

Georgie ran into Mitch in the hall. "Oh, hey. There you are," Georgie greeted him. "Is Mom awake?"

Mitch nodded. "Yeah, she just woke up a little while ago."

"Okay, I'm going to go in and give her this."

"That's fine, yeah. I'll be just a few minutes. Going to go make some coffee."

Georgie nodded wordlessly.

As she walked over to Lou's room, she was surprised, as well as relieved, that the light was on. Clutching the box tighter in one hand, Georgie knocked. "Hey, Mom."

Lou removed a hand from her eyes, and she looked over at her daughter.

As Georgie sunk into the mattress, she sighed. She'd been really tired from the trip, and only now realized it. "Um, so I just got home."

"What…? Where have you been?"

Georgie stopped. "You didn't know I was out. Um, I was—" Georgie broke off. Crap.

"Where were you? How long have you been out?"

"I left around three o'clock."

Lou was waiting for her to go on.

"Yeah, so I left during the afternoon and I just got back. I made it back in good time, traffic was pretty okay today."

"You've been gone for hours, honey. Where did you go?"

"Uh…" Georgie began, glancing down at the box in front of her. This was harder than she thought it would be. "You know that dress you were looking at…"

"The one for your sister? I never told you about that."

Georgie pursed her lips. "You did, actually. Um, I have it right here," Georgie said, tapping the box.

Lou put a hand on her forehead, shutting her eyes tight. "You…why would you do that?"

"Uh, I—I don't…" Georgie stammered, confused and beginning to get nervous. "Mom, I thought you wanted it."

"Yeah, when your sister was alive," Lou said in a sharp yet frail voice.

Georgie leaned back a little, exhaling. "Oh God, oh, no…" she pushed the box away from herself.

"Georgie, is this some type of joke? I mean…your sister's gone, how is this going to be of any use to us?"

"No!" Georgie exclaimed, getting defensive. "I'm not trying to hurt you, I swear. I really thought you wanted it."

"What gave you that idea?"

Georgie sighed. Mitch wasn't even in the room, and Georgie felt she shouldn't explain the situation in his absence. "So you don't—you don't want to look at it? At all?"

"No, I don't…honey, why would you even—" Lou broke off as she saw the time on the clock. "It's already nine. Where did you go for this? What took you so long?"

"Edmonton," she answered sheepishly. Georgie stole her gaze down to the mattress.

"That's a three hour car ride! What were you thinking!?"

"Mom, relax!"

"What were you thinking…?" Lou exhaled. Her voice was faltering, and she seemed close to breaking.

"Mom, would you just calm down!? I wasn't alone! Jade was the one driving."

Lou closed her eyes, tight. "The whole time?"

"The whole time."

"She still has that Jeep, right? It's not a tiny vehicle like the one you drove?"

Georgie inhaled sharply. "No, no. It's still the Jeep."

Lou sighed. "Okay. I just…I need some sleep. Why don't you turn off the lights?"

"Mom, I was hoping to talk to you. It's been a long day."

"I don't feel like talking. I don't feel well."

Georgie glanced over at Lou's dresser. "You took all of your meds today?"

"I did. Now I just want to sleep."

"Mitch said you just woke up. Come on, just a few more minutes."

"Georgie, I told you. I can't do this right now."

Georgie half-laughed. "So you get all worked up about me being outside, and then when I come home, you don't want to talk," she said mostly to herself. "Got it."

"What is there to talk about?"

Georgie chuckled softly. "You're right. There really is nothing to talk about," she replied, moving forward to kiss Lou's forehead. "Good night. I love you."

When Georgie stood and turned around, she heard her mother call her name. She looked over, excited and hopeful.

"Would you take the box out with you?"

Georgie's lips parted and her eyes darkened. Before she could say a word, Lou turned in bed, pulling the covers up.

* * *

Mitch was pouring coffee into a cup when he heard footsteps approaching. "Hey, how'd it go?"

Georgie huffed, dumping the box onto Lou's desk. "Not great," she said, moving to sit at the round table.

Mitch looked up, his eyes widened in surprise. "Wait, what?"

"She didn't want it. After all that panic, the long drive there and back…she didn't even want the damn thing."

"Georgie…" Mitch looked at her, still dumbfounded. "I don't get it. She mentioned it, twice yesterday."

"Now that I think about it, it makes sense. What could we possibly need it for?"

"Well…Katie is going to need it."

Georgie exhaled, closing her eyes momentarily to shield herself. "I don't think Mom wants to hear about any of that."

"She's not even allowed to go see Katie, you know, given her condition."

"Hmm."

"Coffee?" Mitch held out a mug.

"Sure," she said, accepting his offer. "So, since we're sort of on the subject, I was thinking about the funeral."

"What were you thinking?" Mitch asked gently.

"That there shouldn't be one."

Stunned, Mitch could only look at her.

"Say something," Georgie laughed, embarrassed.

"Well, I—I just think that there has to be a funeral, Georgie. There has to be!"

"I just don't think the public should be there. It's probably best for Mom that we just go and do the burial…" Georgie looked down, shaking her head. "Or whatever. I don't think anyone outside the family should be there. Maybe a couple of close friends."

"So that your parents and the rest of us can do what we need to do, without others' gazes on us."

Georgie shrugged a shoulder. "I don't even think Mom should be there. What if she can't handle it?"

"Well, she has to say goodbye. She wasn't able to that day."

"If the only thing that's going to be happening that day is the burial, then why does Mom need to be there? It just…I don't think she needs to be there. What do you think?"

"I think that you make a very compelling point, but I also think that maybe Lou's not going to see it that way."

"Yeah," Georgie quieted for a moment. "Where's my dad?"

"I think he's at the dude ranch, dealing with a lighting issue."

"Oh."

"For what it's worth, today went relatively smoothly. Your mom slept for most of it, so."

"That's good. And you?"

Mitch was taken aback. "What about me?"

"How are you doing? I mean, it can't be easy…seeing your wife in shambles."

"It's not. But being able to sit with her and hold her hand makes me feel useful. That helps me through the day."

Georgie smiled weakly. "Good."

"Speaking of, I should probably check on her. You know, just in case."

"Yeah. Okay."

* * *

Peter returned over a half hour later. "Hey! There you are!" His face lit up when he saw Georgie. "When did you get back?"

"At around nine," Georgie answered, turning in her seat.

Peter walked over and planted a kiss on her head. "I missed you today."

"Yeah?" Georgie laughed a little.

"Yeah. We barely saw each other. I did finally speak to your mom, though."

"Oh?"

"You sound surprised."

"I don't know, it just…it felt like you were avoiding her for the last little while."

"I just didn't see how I could be of use to her. She has Mitch."

Georgie nodded. "Yeah, I get that. I brought home the dress—" Georgie turned and nodded toward it. "But turns out she didn't want it, and she just sort of…I don't know, told me to leave."

Peter sighed tightly. He moved to sit in the seat beside his daughter's. "You know, I know that her reaction probably hurt, but—"

"But who knows what was going on inside her head at the time, I know. It's okay, Dad. I get it. I just wish I knew what to do, or what to say…it's a minefield in there."

"We'll figure it out, don't you worry."

Georgie looked up. "When are you headed back?"

"I haven't thought of that yet. I think I'll stick around for a little while longer."

Georgie nodded. "Okay, yeah. I'm glad."

Peter placed his hand over Georgie's and squeezed reassuringly.

"I need to say something. But you need to promise not to get mad."

"Okay."

"I think that you should put a pause on all those funeral arrangements."

* * *

The next day, the entire family had gathered in the living room, minus Lou. Ty and Lyndy, as well, were back at their house. When Mitch and Peter broke the news of the new funeral arrangements, it felt like a bomb had gone off.

Jack was silent, as per usual. So was Tim.

Amy spoke up. "Wait a second. You really think you're going to be able to convince Lou to stay in bed while we're out there—" Amy broke off, refusing to finish that sentence.

"If we all band together, then yes," Peter answered.

"You mean gang up. This is—this isn't fair. Lou doesn't even get a say! Peter, you of all people, you have to understand that she lost a child. She needs to be there. How could you even suggest this?"

"Don't blame him. It was my idea," Georgie intervened. "She doesn't need people's eyes on her, okay? She doesn't need them looking at her the way that people do, and—and for what? They're strangers to us, so why do we need to even make them a part of this?"

"Strangers?" Amy questioned her niece. "These are old friends, almost family."

Georgie inhaled sharply, trying her best to keep herself together.

Tim's gaze rested on his granddaughter. "Georgie."

Georgie looked up from her spot on the couch.

"What's going on?"

"What—what—why would you say that? I'm just trying to explain to you guys…"

"You've been into town?" Tim checked.

Georgie tensed. "Yeah, yeah…I've been into town."

"You've read the papers?"

"Yeah, I've read the papers," Georgie said, a sour tone in her voice. "I've had people walk up to me and call me a murderer to my face."

Heads turned in Georgie's direction.

"What?" Tim spewed out, a look of anger forming on his face.

When Georgie didn't say anything, Tim looked toward Jack, suddenly feeling helpless.

"Tim, I swear to you, I will explain everything to you. I will give you every little detail that you ask of me. Or if you don't want to hear me out, you can always look at the police reports, but I…"

Tim shook his head. "Don't do that. I'm not trying to put you on the stand—"

"I know, but you have the right to know. But you do need to know that it was, in fact, an accident."

Mitch looked toward Peter, who had his arms crossed over his chest, a heartbroken look on his face.

Peter watched his daughter, whose head was held down and whose voice was continually breaking.

"The one mistake I made was letting her sit in the passenger seat. I tried to get her to change her mind, but she was adamant—" Georgie broke off, closing her eyes momentarily, the regret lingering on her face. "There was no talking her out of it."

Nobody said a word.

"If you hadn't let her sit in the front…" Tim muttered to himself.

"Tim—" Jack began, warning him.

Georgie stared at her grandfather. "If I could, I would switch places with her. You don't know what I would give to bring her here to you guys—"

Georgie's words struck Tim's heart. He became rattled at the thought of Georgie being taken from them as well. "But you can't! Georgie, come on!" Tim exclaimed, looking down to the side, his face scrunched up in pain.

It was dead silent for a couple of moments until Georgie spoke again. "I'm sorry," her words came out choked. "I'm sorry, for everything," she said, gesturing in the direction of Lou's room. "I know that I really don't have a say in how this will all go, but if the situation were different—if Mom hadn't gotten sick, then I wouldn't even have dared to say anything."

Everyone was listening, waiting for her to go on.

"I just don't want anyone whispering, or saying something in front of Mom that'll hurt her. It'll just mess everything up."

After a beat, Time spoke up. "I'm with Georgie. We'll do what needs to be done, but in private. As for Lou…we might have to do a little convincing, but I'm on board."

"Dad!" Amy exclaimed. "Are you serious?"

"I am."

"You need to trust her to hold her own out there. You can't coddle her!"

"Except right now, I think we do," Jack spoke in a low voice.

Amy's stern expression melted. She hadn't expected Jack to agree to any of this.

"Okay, so it's decided then."


	16. Chapter 16

Georgie had lost count of the days that came and went, and eventually, it just felt like she was living in her own little bubble. There was nothing to indicate that time was changing. Some days, she would wake and not know which day of the week it was. She would have to specifically check her phone for that. And some days, she didn't care to check.

One day, a few weeks after the funeral, Georgie awoke, feeling lost and light-headed.

A reminder popped up on her phone and Georgie leaned forward to grab her phone and read it. What it said hit her in the gut. She sighed, sitting up lazily in bed. When she checked her clock, she saw it was past ten o'clock. No wonder she was feeling awful; she'd overslept again. She got up headed into the shower.

At about quarter to eleven, She made her way into the kitchen where Lou was seated, a mug held loosely in her hands.

Georgie plastered a smile to her face when she saw Lou look up. "Hey." She walked over behind her mother and hugged her tight, planting a loving kiss on her temple.

Lou put a hand to her arm as if to hug her back.

Georgie stood there a moment. "Are you alright?"

Lou didn't say anything.

Georgie was disdained. There was never anything they could ever talk about. Georgie loosened her hold on Lou, and walked over to the counter and was about to pour out some coffee. She didn't say anything for a few moments, trying to hold back her tongue. But she just couldn't control herself. Not today. "You know, you're going to have to talk to me one of these days."

Lou's head turned a little. "What did you say? Something happen?"

Georgie exhaled sharply, setting the coffee container back down on the counter. She walked over to the cabinet and picked up her medicine. "You just…you don't even look at me anymore, let alone talk."

"No, really, I didn't hear you. What's the matter?" Her voice was quiet and piercing.

"It's like you're giving me the cold shoulder."

"It's not the cold shoulder. I just…"

"Okay, just save it." Georgie dismissed Lou's words. Her tone was gentle, but her words were sharp. She took the blood thinner and swallowed it with a sip of her coffee.

"You're the one that brought it up." Lou gently accused, worried about Georgie's reaction.

"Well, I'm sorry that I did." Georgie shot back as she walked back to the cabinet and put the pill bottle away.

"Do you still have plenty of the medicine left?"

"It's almost gone. Don't worry, I'll figure it out on my own. That's nothing new," Georgie answered as she crossed over to the mudroom, about to head out of the house.

"Where are you going?"

"Oh, you care?"

"Georgie—" Lou let out, standing up from the table. "Sweetheart, come on."

Georgie stopped at that. She turned, placing a shaking hand on the door frame. She stopped, waiting for Lou to go on.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you, I'm just in my own head right now."

Georgie turned as she heard the front door open.

Jack walked in and took off his hat. When he saw the look on Georgie's face, he seemed to pick up on the atmosphere right away. "Everything okay?"

Georgie didn't answer.

Jack decided to drop the subject and instead crossed over to Lou and planted a kiss on her hair. "It's good to see you up, honey."

Lou smiled tiredly. "It's good to be up."

"Where's that husband of yours?"

"He left to go run some errands in town. He made coffee before heading out," Lou said, gesturing to the counter.

Jack chuckled. He walked over to pour himself a cup.

"Mom."

Lou turned to Georgie, a hopeful look in her eyes.

"You still in your own head right now?"

The light in Lou's eyes died down. "Georgie…"

"You seem to be able to function just fine, don't you? But only when it's convenient for you!"

"Georgie!" Jack called out. "Is that any way to talk to your mother?" he demanded from her. "What, did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed today?"

Lou turned partly to face Jack and she waved a hand. "Grandpa, it's fine. Don't worry about it."

Georgie bit down on her lip. She could feel the tightness in her throat beginning to intensify. It was like the tight feeling was always there, but when something was wrong, it would get worse. She blew out her breath and started for the door.

"Where are you going?"

Without stopping to answer, Georgie disappeared out the door.

When the door slammed behind Georgie, Lou sunk back in her chair. She groaned, putting her head in her hands.

"What's going on with her?"

"She's upset with me. Let's just leave it at that."

"Not good enough," Jack said as he came around and sat beside Lou. "What happened?"

"I'm not entirely sure. She must have said something, but I didn't hear her. She thinks I'm giving her the cold shoulder. What could I possibly be giving her silent treatment for?"

Jack sighed. "She'll be alright. You just worry about taking care of yourself."

"Who's going to worry about Georgie?"

Jack relented. "You, probably."

A weak smile appeared at her lips. "Yeah, probably."

"Mitch told me you haven't been feeling too well."

"Hmm. It's nothing new."

"You know, you should probably see someone about this."

Lou nodded. "When he gets back, Mitch and I are going to head into town to see Dr Virani."

"Well, good. That's good."

"Oh, but don't say anything to Georgie. I'll talk to her myself."

"You got it."

"You know, I didn't…um, I didn't realize how much Georgie slept these days," Lou said, putting a hand to the nape of her neck. "And her classes. Is she still making her classes on time?"

Jack froze in place, suddenly at a loss for what to say. "Lou, uh…"

"What? What is it? Has she not gone back yet?"

"She dropped all her classes over a month ago. Said she didn't want her GPA to dip."

Lou was silent for a few moments, trying to digest the news. "Oh."

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm just trying to process, I guess…"

"Yeah."

"Well, what's she going to be doing now?"

"Not much of anything. She quit jumping, too."

Lou exhaled tightly, leaning back into her chair. "I should've…I should've thought about this. This is what she does when things fall apart, I should've known."

"I think it's for the best. She'll get back to all of this when she's ready."

"But she needs to get busy, she needs to do something with her time…"

"Well, we can't really push her, can we? She needs to pick herself up on her own. All we can do is just be there."

Lou felt her chest tightening up, and she placed a hand to her torso to steady herself. "But that's just it, Grandpa. I haven't been there."

"You didn't really have a choice, now did you? Doctor's orders."

Lou turned to look at him, as if she'd just realized he was sitting there, beside her. "What? No, no, I just…is she alright? Has she said anything to you lately?"

Panic was rising in Lou's voice, and Jack knew he had to do something sooner rather than later in order to keep her grounded. "Look, what she's doing…it's normal after a loss like the one she's faced. It's perfectly normal. She'll be back to her old self in no time."

"I lost one kid already…" she said in a trance. "And that still hasn't hit me yet. I'm worried I may lose the other one, too."

"You know that's not happening. You're just scaring yourself."

"I'm arming myself. This is going to happen, I just know it, and I need to be ready."

"Lou, she's fine! She's taking a break from everything, that's all it is."

Lou breathed out shakily. "No, no…it's only a matter of time before she leaves me, too."

"Where's this coming from?"

"Everyone I've ever loved, they always find a way to get away from me," she said quietly, nodding her head ever so slightly. "I'm always left alone, and…I'm just arming myself."

"Lou—"

"Except you. You've never left me."

Jack's eyes darkened with sadness. "Nobody's leaving. Do you understand me? This Georgie business will figure itself out in no time."

"And if it doesn't?"

Jack was startled. Lou sounded like she was having trouble speaking. He put a hand to her arm to get her to look at him. "Talk to me. Tell me what I can do to help."

"I don't…" she shook her head, trying to put the pieces together.

"I can check in on her today or tomorrow. She listens to me," Jack offered.

"You'd do that?"

"Of course."

* * *

Lou and Mitch returned home late that afternoon. Both of them had a lot on their mind. When they stepped into the house, Lou called for Georgie.

When her daughter arrived downstairs, Lou told her to take a seat.

"Is everything okay? You guys seem a little off."

"It's fine. Just sit."

"Okay…" Georgie mumbled to herself as she sat down at the round table.

Mitch stood by Lou as she took a seat as well.

"Okay, so," Lou began. "I went to the clinic today."

"Woah—" Georgie waved a hand in front of her. "Why would you…"

"As I said, everything's fine. I've just been having trouble sleeping lately. So Dr. Virani prescribed me something."

"Wait, sleeping pills?"

"Honey, I'm tired all the time, but then at night when I go to lie down, I can't get to sleep. So I lie awake, and it makes everything worse."

Georgie swallowed. "Mom, come on. You—" she broke off, exasperated. "There has to be another way for us to fix this! You can't rely on medicine to go about your day…that's just—"

"Georgie," Mitch spoke, a tightness to his voice. His eyes held the same, stern warning. He shook his head a little.

Lou reached into her purse and pulled out the pill bottles she'd gotten from the pharmacy.

Georgie's eyes darted back and forth from the bottles to her mother's face. "What's that second one?" Georgie felt her frustration increasing by the minute.

"Here," Lou said, placing the first of them on the table and handing Georgie the second one. "Read the label," she said tiredly, clearly too exhausted to explain this one as well.

Georgie hesitantly took the pill bottle from Lou's grasp, and she then quickly read through the label. She was confused at first; she hadn't seen a label like this before. But as she continued to read, it became apparent to her what it was. "This is an antidepressant…" Georgie said in horror, looking from Lou to Mitch. "Wait, what? Why do you need this?" She demanded from Lou.

Lou sucked in her breath and turned partly toward Mitch. "Maybe telling her this wasn't the best idea," she said to him under her breath.

Georgie was on the brink of losing it. "Why do you need this, though? Mom, answer me! I mean, okay, fine—the sleeping pills I get, but this…? You're _fine_—"

"I'm not," said Lou simply. "This is me trying to be."

"Okay, if you would just...just listen to me for a second."

"I wanted to tell you myself. I didn't want you finding out on your own."

Georgie placed the bottle back down on the table. She put a hand to the back of her head, bunching up her hair. "No, you don't—you don't need these…What you need is to talk to someone, _anyone_. These pills…are you even aware of the side effects?"

"I'm aware."

Georgie exhaled heavily, her hand slipping off of the surface of the table. "I don't understand why you can't just talk to someone."

"Talking isn't going to help me."

"You're going to become so reliant on these. What's going to happen once they decide you don't need them anymore? Do you know how hard the withdrawal is?" When Lou didn't answer, Georgie continued on. "Is there something going on that's making you need these? Is it something I said? Because if that's the case, then I can promise you—"

"It's nothing you said or did. Honey, I just need these. I'm sorry. If all of this is upsetting you…" Lou gestured to the pill bottles. "Then I won't take them in front of you. You don't have to worry about seeing them, ever."

"I'm not a child that needs coddling! I want you people to be straight up with me, for once in my life! God, I just..." Georgie trailed off as the tightness in her throat was getting worse.

Lou recognized the look in her daughter's eyes. It was the same look that Peter had when he was upset or worried about something. Her eyes were shining in the light, and Lou worried she was at her breaking point.

Georgie let out a shuddering breath. "Well, whatever. You made the decision to do this without me, so it's not like I need to stick around and see this through. You can do whatever it is you want. Don't let me stop you."

"That's what this is about? The fact that I went ahead and did this without your permission?" Lou questioned her.

Georgie moved back in her seat. "No! I don't want you asking my permission, I wanted to be part of this decision!"

"Right. Okay."

"'Okay,' what?"

"No, nothing. It's just…you really made sure I was part of your decision to drop out of your classes, so it only makes sense that we should have involved you in this."

Georgie was stunned for a moment. She scoffed, shaking her head. "It's not the same! This is important!" Georgie gestured toward her mother. "It's about you!"

"The decision about the funeral was important, too. You guys decided, all on your own, how it would happen and who would be there. Without even consulting me about it."

"What were we supposed to consult you for?" Georgie demanded. "You had just gotten out of the hospital! We weren't about to drag you all the way to a memorial service."

"I needed to be Katie's mom for as long as I was able to. But that, too, was taken from me because nobody in this family thought that I could hold my own out there."

"Look, that was…" Georgie began, trying to defend herself. But the way Lou had put it made everything she was about to say not make sense anymore.

"Lou, just tell her," Mitch said under his breath.

"What? Tell me what?" Georgie asked.

Lou didn't say anything for a moment, but then Mitch put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently. "Lou."

"It doesn't matter. She doesn't want to hear it."

"Just tell me," Georgie said in a low voice.

Lou sighed. "I've been dealing with these aches and pains—it's non-stop, and no matter what I do, or what I take for it…it doesn't work. At first, I thought that it might be tied with—" Lou broke off when she saw the look on Georgie's face. "—with my cardiac episode, but then I realized there was nothing going on besides…well, you get it."

Georgie's lips parted in astonishment. That's what was going on? She quieted for a few moments, taking in what Lou had said.

"Georgie," Lou called out, vying for her daughter's attention. "Say something."

She exhaled. "So the antidepressant is supposed to help you manage all that as well. You think these are going to help?"

Lou studied her a moment. There was an innocent look in her eyes as if she were looking to her mother for reassurance that this was the best course of treatment.

Mitch answered. "They're doctor recommended. Specifically designed to help with chronic pain."

Georgie winced at her stepfather's words. "Okay. Fine, then," she said.

"But this isn't a magical, instant cure. It'll probably take some time for the medicine to actually kick in and start working." Mitch added.

Georgie was afraid to ask. "How long?"

"A month, or maybe a little longer."

Georgie blew out her breath. A moment later, she turned to Lou to apologize. "I'm sorry for being such a jerk. Both just now and this morning."

"Don't say that. Georgie, come on."

Georgie pursed her lips. "But it's true. I was being a jerk. I had no idea you were dealing with all of this. Today was just...um, it was just a bad day from the start. I'm sorry."

"It's alright." Lou forgave her instantly. She didn't want Georgie to think she was holding anything against her, because she wasn't. And Lou was afraid that one wrong move, one thing she'd say wrong would set her daughter off. She didn't want to give Georgie an excuse to push her away. "We're okay."


	17. Chapter 17

The next afternoon, Lou and Mitch were in their room. Since their conversation with Georgie the day before, Lou had been quite reserved. She hadn't said much to anybody in particular, not even Mitch.

Mitch knew she would be upset, but when she hadn't said anything, he had figured she'd moved on. But that clearly wasn't the case. "Lou? Can I ask you something?"

Lou looked at Mitch tiredly. "Babe, if it's about what I said yesterday…I don't want to get into it."

Mitch looked at her empathetically. "I'm not going there. Not yet, anyway." Mitch took a seat beside Lou at the edge of the mattress. "I know these meds take some time to start working properly, but…how is it so far? Any side effects?"

Lou looked at him, a blank expression on her face. "What?"

"Your meds. The ones from yesterday. How are they working out?"

Lou shrugged.

"Babe, come on. Give me something. Have you had any side effects?"

"Just some nausea. That's about it."

Mitch exhaled. "How bad is it?"

"Nothing I can't handle."

Mitch reached over and placed an arm around Lou's shoulder. He leaned forward and planted a kiss on her temple. "I'm just so glad that you told me when you weren't feeling alright. And we were able to do something about it, you know?"

Lou leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder. "I know how worried you get. I try my best not to freak you out, but…I didn't want my symptoms to get the best of me."

Mitch kissed her again. Speaking against her hair, he said, "You know you can always tell me anything. I'm always happy to help."

"I know."

"Okay, so…" Mitch eased into the conversation. "I didn't realize you were upset about the whole…"

"Mitch, I'm really not in the mood for this. Please."

"We're going to have to talk about this eventually. If you would just let me explain…"

Lou sat up straight, looking down at her hands.

"We never would've made that call if we didn't think it was necessary."

"'Necessary?' That's your play here?"

"Look, it wasn't exactly my idea. I wanted you to be able to attend."

Lou let out a resigned sigh. "Well, whose idea was it, then?"

Mitch hesitated. "You know, I don't really remember. It was all a blur, anyway."

"Mitch, come on."

He sighed. "It was…it was Georgie."

Lou's eyebrows travelled up toward her hairline. Hearing her daughter's name softened Lou's demeanour. "Why?"

"There was a lot going on at the time, and she was just worried about…"

Lou gazed into his eyes, trying to figure out what it was he was trying to tell her. "About…?"

"You know, the usual. What people would say to you at the service, if that's something you would be able to handle—"

"What could people possibly have to say that I couldn't handle?"

Lou's intense gaze made Mitch falter. "I—I don't really know. She was being overly cautious."

"_Mitch."_

Mitch relented. "There was a lot going on in town. The newspapers were releasing articles about the crash and Georgie's arrest…and there were some people that she ran into as well, who were less than kind—"

"Wait, what? Why didn't you guys think to tell me?"

Mitch looked at Lou pointedly. "Babe, why do you think?"

"No, no, that's not fair. I'm her mother, I get to know these things! What were people saying?"

Mitch shifted closer to Lou, putting a hand to her back. "Look, we don't need to get into this right now if you don't want to."

Lou scoffed, shrugging away from his touch. She stood up. "You guys are absolutely ridiculous."

"Where are you going?" Mitch turned to look over his shoulder at Lou.

When Lou arrived in the living room, Georgie was sitting in the chair by the fireplace. She was staring into the flames, her gaze unfocused. She seemed lost in her own little world.

"Georgie."

She turned, removing her elbow from the armrest and shifting toward the edge of the seat.

"Why didn't you say anything about what's happening in town?"

It took Georgie a couple of moments to register what Lou had said. Her eyes went right from confused to alarmed, and the wrinkle between her brows disappeared all within a second. She stood. "What are you talking about?"

"Did you really think I wouldn't find out?"

Georgie pursed her lips tightly, frustrated. She willed herself to not get mad.

"You do realize we live in the same town, right?"

"Okay, yeah, but you haven't been into town yet! So no, I didn't think it was a good idea to tell you until it was absolutely necessary. If I had it my way, I never would've told you!"

"Oh, well, that's comforting."

"Yeah," Georgie said, laughing derisively.

"But what happened with you—"

Georgie put a hand up. "I don't know what you've been told, but seriously, it's nothing. Just calm down." Georgie's eyes darted behind Lou when she saw Mitch come into the room.

Lou turned momentarily to look at Mitch as he came to stand behind her.

"Mitch, why would you tell her this!?" Georgie exclaimed, furious.

The man sighed. "I'm sorry, I couldn't lie to her."

"That didn't stop you from trying," Lou said under her breath.

Mitch looked down at Lou, surprised at the accusation. Before he could say anything, Georgie continued.

"No, seriously! I didn't give you away when that whole mess happened with—" Georgie broke off, not bothering to finish her sentence. It wasn't important, and Georgie was far too exhausted to be disturbing yet another hornet's nest.

"Georgie, I'm sorry—" Mitch began.

"You know what?" Georgie made a dismissive motion with her hands. "Just save it. I don't want to hear it."

"Georgie…what happened in town?" Lou asked her again, gently this time, being careful to not sound mad at Georgie. Because she wasn't. She just wanted to know.

"Okay, no. We're not doing this right now."

"Georgie…just tell me what happened."

"Just ask Mitch. I'm sure he'll tell you," Georgie said angrily, directing her words at her stepfather.

Lou sighed. "Okay, I get that you're mad, but…this is only going to work if we're honest."

"So you're saying it's not working? What, do you want me to pack up my things and get lost, or something?"

Lou felt her heart drop at Georgie's sudden outburst. "Where did you get that idea from?" Lou's voice faltered. "Why would I ever want you to…"

Mitch put a hand to Lou's waist, steadying her. She sounded breathless, and the very notion of it put him on high alert.

Lou was well aware of Mitch behind her. He had come closer and moved to help her stand upright. While she wanted to be able to stand on her own, she was also relieved that he was there. Because she wasn't entirely sure that she would've been able to stand all on her own. "Georgie, if something happens to you, I should be the first one to know. You're my number one priority, alright, and if—"

"Oh, I'm your top priority? Really? After how many weeks did that occur to you?" Georgie demanded from Lou.

Lou's lips parted. Anguish settled in her eyes. "What did I do wrong?"

"Nothing. You did absolutely nothing," she answered in a low voice.

Lou drew in her breath and turned a little toward Mitch.

Mitch looked down at her, tightening his grasp on her. "Hey…"

"Could you—could you open a window? The air in here is getting really tight. I feel like—it's like I can't breathe, or something."

Mitch looked at her, concern etched in his eyes. "The window is open. We've had it open all afternoon."

"Okay, right," Lou said breathlessly. She was trying her best to avoid looking at Georgie, who had stepped forward a little.

Mitch put his arm around Lou and helped her sit down on the sofa, much to Lou's relief. He knelt in front of her. "Hey, look at me…" Mitch began, placing a hand to her face. His eyes darted behind Lou when he saw Georgie make her way into the kitchen. "You're alright."

"Mitch…"

"I know. Just give it some time…"

A few moments later, Georgie returned from the kitchen, a glass of water in hand.

Georgie handed the glass to Mitch, who held it out for Lou to take. "Babe."

"Oh, no, I don't want it."

Mitch set the glass on the coffee table. He met Georgie's gaze, and tried his best to reassure her with a warm smile.

_Do you want me to pack up my things and get lost, or something?_

Georgie's words were ringing in Lou's ears. She wanted to put it out of her head, try to forget about it, but she just couldn't. What had she done wrong? She just wanted to know if her daughter was doing okay…

Georgie sat down beside Lou. Her mother's eyes were red and Georgie could sense her shaking. She hesitantly brought her hand to rest over Lou's. "_Mom."_

Lou shut her eyes tight. It was that one word that always seemed to be able to ground her. No matter how awful she was feeling, no matter how out of it she was—hearing Georgie call her mom always brought her back. Maybe because she had waited so long to hear it from her in the beginning, when she'd first taken her in, or maybe because she needed to still be Georgie's mom after having lost Katie. Because without that, without having someone there to call her mom, she didn't really know who she was.

Hearing Georgie talk about leaving shook Lou to her core. What would she do without her? How would she find any motivation to get out of bed everyday? But how would she even explain any of this to her? Anytime Lou tried to talk to her, she would take it the wrong way.

"Can we please not fight right now?" Georgie asked, her voice weak and thin. "I don't have the energy, and by the looks of it, you don't either."

"I just want to know that you're alright."

Georgie smiled, a piercing look in her eyes. "Of course I'm alright. And, you know, the whole thing in town…don't worry about it. People read the papers, saw the news, I'm sure…and that probably led them to all sorts of conclusions. None of which we should be concerning ourselves with."

"I hear you, but…" Lou stopped herself, worried about Georgie's reaction.

"What?"

"You thought it urgent enough to keep me away from people because of what happened."

Georgie nodded. "Yeah, I did. So you wouldn't have to worry yourself. Because it's not important."

Lou sighed, looking at Georgie.

Before anyone could say anything else, there was a knock at the front door.

"I'll get it." Mitch put a hand to the armchair and stood, making his way to the front of the house.

When Mitch arrived at the door and saw who it was, he breathed a sigh of relief. Part of him had been dreading answering the door. He opened the screen door and welcomed the visitor, shaking his hand firmly. "Come on in!" Mitch led him into the house, calling out to Lou and Georgie. "Look who it is!"

Georgie, who was still seated beside Lou, turned her head to see who had come in. The sight that met her eyes made pins drop in her stomach. "Quinn!"

Georgie stood, wide-eyed, and moved out of the sitting area to greet him. He was wearing a long, black coat with a scarf of the same shade around his neck. It was like he hadn't even left. Seeing him after so long, feeling his familiar presence after so many weeks, Georgie just knew she was about to begin to cry. "When did you—why didn't you tell me you were coming?" She laughed between the tears and moved a hand to cover her mouth. She couldn't believe that Quinn was standing right in front of her, so close to her.

Quinn made his way over to Georgie and caught her in his arms. He held her close to him, shutting his eyes to take in the moment. "I would've been here weeks ago," he said against her hair. "_If only you'd told me."_

Georgie's quiet tears turned to sobs. She tried to muffle the sound by burying her face in Quinn's shoulder, but that only helped so much. Georgie was aware of how badly she was shaking and when Quinn brought his arms tighter around her, it only made her shake more.

"I'm here now, okay?" Quinn reassured, trying his best to keep her from falling apart.

After a little while, when Georgie was able to quiet down, she moved back to look at him. "Why didn't you tell me you were coming?" She asked more firmly this time, vying for an answer.

Quinn brought his hand and brushed away a tear on Georgie's cheek. "You would've tried to talk me out of it. That's why."

Georgie wiped away the rest of her tears. Georgie smiled at him weakly, and watched as he made his way over to Lou.

Lou had been about to stand, but Quinn stopped her. He sat down where Georgie had been sitting minutes ago and embraced Lou.

The entire time Quinn was on his flight, his mind hadn't stopped racing. He was worried about Georgie, worried about Lou. And now that he was here, he couldn't have felt more at peace.

When Lou let go, Quinn sat back, exhaling. "If I had known earlier, I would've been here," he said to Lou. He was feeling extremely guilty, and he felt the need to apologize over and over again. "I'm really sorry."

"Quinn…" Georgie called out.

His head turned in her direction.

"I didn't tell you before because…"

He nodded. "I know, it's alright. I'm here now, so…" Quinn reassured her. He turned back to Lou. "I just…I don't have the words right now to tell you how sorry I am. I can't believe this happened, and so suddenly, too."

"I feel like it hasn't hit me yet, I don't…" Lou trailed off, shaking her head.

"Georgie told me about your health scare. I can't believe what's happened since the last time I was in town. The whole time I was on the flight…I couldn't stop thinking about if you were okay…" he trailed off, looking from Lou to Georgie. "Is your mom okay now?"

Georgie didn't even know how to answer that question. Her lips parted. "I…" she shrugged a shoulder, at a loss for words.

Lou could sense Georgie's struggle. So she answered for her. "It's a process, Quinn. Some days I feel like it'll be alright, and on others…not so much. Today's a better day."

"Yeah. That's good, really good…" Quinn voiced thoughtfully.

"And your dad? How is he?" Lou asked him.

"He's been on the mend for quite some time now. Things are looking up."

"Good. That's good. How long are you planning on staying?" Lou asked of him.

"I don't know, you know…as of right now, I have no plans to go back. Everything that's important to me is right here in Hudson," he answered, glancing over at Georgie, who stole away from his glance, embarrassed.

Mitch spoke up. "You know, I have to say, it was a nice surprise. Seeing you at the front door. You've been missed."

Quinn smiled. "Thanks. I've missed you all so much, too. It's…I don't know, it's hard to believe that the last time I saw you guys was…"

"It feels like a lifetime ago," said Lou, a somber look in her eyes.

Georgie had a feeling this conversation wasn't going to end well. Her mother and Quinn both liked to express themselves to the fullest. They had really connected over the years, and Lou had come to love Quinn as the son she never had. Georgie knew that Quinn felt the same, and often, he would want to hear how Lou was doing, even when Georgie thought it would be best to leave the conversation at bay. Sometimes, this meant that the two of them would be having their own conversation, while the rest of the family would be off doing their own thing.

Georgie cleared her throat. "Quinn, why don't I take your coat? That way you can get more comfortable."

"Oh! Yeah, thanks," he said, standing. He gently shrugged off his coat and swung his scarf from around his neck. When he handed the garments to Georgie, he smiled.

Just then, Jack and Tim returned home. When they saw Quinn, they were both evidently delighted.

"Quinn!" Jack exclaimed, coming over to shake his hand.

Tim followed suit but did one better by giving Quinn a hug. "We haven't seen you in forever!"

"I was…I was with my dad, actually. He wasn't doing so well."

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that," Jack said empathetically.

"Thank you, Mr. Bartlett."

Lou stood as well. "Why don't I make some coffee? You boys can sit back and relax."

Quinn turned to the sound of Lou's voice. "I'll help."

* * *

"I know I sound like a broken record, but I would've been here for the funeral had I known. It's just…Georgie was worried about me being there for my dad, and…"

"Quinn, honey, don't sweat it. I know you would have been here. And besides, you're not the only one who wasn't able to attend the funeral."

Quinn's eyebrow shot up. "You weren't able to? Why?"

Lou exhaled. "Georgie, she…well, I'm sure she told you already that she was arrested the night of the wreck…" Lou trailed off, looking up at Quinn. When she saw the puzzled and worried expression on his face, she realized. "She didn't tell you."

Quinn shook his head. "No. She didn't…" He exhaled. "On what grounds?"

"They said she had been speeding. But she hadn't been, obviously, so they dropped the charges."

Quinn nodded. "Okay, wow," he exhaled, leaning back against the counter. The chatter that was coming in from the living room rest assured that his and Lou's voices would be drowned out. "How badly was she hurt?"

"She had a terrible head injury. She's still taking blood thinners. In fact, I need to head into town to get her refill."

"When are you thinking of going?"

"As soon as possible. She's about to run out any day now."

"I'll go with you," he said decidedly. "Just let me know when."

A smile settled in Lou's eyes. "Thank you."

After a moment's silence, Quinn spoke up again. "So how come you weren't able to attend?"

"Well, I was in the hospital when all this happened, but apparently the newspapers were printing articles about the wreck, and about Georgie…so I guess she didn't want me to have to deal with any of that."

"Hmm. Well, knowing Georgie, it must have been hard to come to such a decision. And to be honest with you, I would've done the same thing."

Lou nodded. "I just…I just wish I'd been part of it."

"I totally get that, but knowing Georgie, she probably didn't want to risk your health. Not one bit."

"I could've handled it, you know. I'm not exactly made of glass."

Quinn chuckled. "All moms are. And I know us kids are not that great at voicing sometimes…but it's hard to even see tears in your eyes."

"No, I know, but…"

"And when she called me last night to tell me about Katie…"

Lou's head went up at the mention of her youngest.

Quinn sighed, closing his eyes momentarily. "I just couldn't believe it, you know. I was so sad that I hadn't been told, and then I realized that Georgie was worried about me being separated from my father, and…" he exhaled heavily. "Well, anyways. Georgie then went on to tell me what happened with you. And that's what we talked about for the rest of the call. Well, I talked. I kept trying to ask her all these questions, and all she could do was cry."

"Quinn…" Lou said, her voice coming out brittle.

He was suddenly unnerved and so he moved toward Lou. "Okay, so that had the opposite effect of what I was going for."

Lou put a hand to her lips, trying to stifle a laugh. He was usually so calm, almost stoic, but he was anything but that right now.

Quinn placed a hand to Lou's arm, bringing her into an embrace. "All I'm trying to say is that…Georgie made the decision because she didn't want to see you in any pain. Not after everything you had already been through."

When Georgie walked into the room, she blew out her breath audibly. "I was wondering why the coffee hadn't arrived yet."

When they broke away from the embrace, Quinn still kept an arm around Lou. "Is there something we can help you with?"

Georgie smirked, putting a hand up. "No, no, don't let me interrupt you two."

"Well, you've interrupted already, so…" Quinn remarked, clicking his tongue. He looked toward Lou, who smiled.

Georgie tried to mask her smile by rolling her eyes at Quinn. "Can I help at all?" She directed her question at her mother.

"We're pretty much done here, but thank you," Lou said warmly.

Georgie nodded. "Sure."

"Okay, and I…" Quinn began, pulling up his sleeves. "I will pour the coffee into these mugs," he said, moving over to the counter.

Georgie stood there a moment, gazing lovingly at Quinn. She marvelled at the way he had come in just under half an hour ago and had single-handedly managed to take care of everything so well. He reminded her of Peter; the way he was able to fix everything, make everyone feel so much better in almost an instant.

And the way he cared for Lou…it comforted Georgie that the man she loved cared so deeply for her mother. It convinced Georgie that he was the one for her. Quinn always wanted to be there as a listening ear for her mother, even when Georgie herself wasn't able to handle it. He was stronger in that sense, Georgie thought. She needed some of that in her life. She needed Quinn.

As Lou brought out a tray from the cupboard, she saw Georgie looking at Quinn. She recognized the look in her eyes—it was love.

Lou had known it for years, the fact that Georgie was in love with Quinn. Quinn himself had become an integral part of the family and Lou loved him like a son, and she always hoped for the best for the young couple.

Lou had always thought that Georgie and Quinn brought out the best in each other, and she knew they would go to the ends of the earth to protect one another. Their pairing had to be protected and Lou had no doubt in her heart that they would always fight for each other.


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: Hey! So a couple of you had some questions and I figured I would answer them up here. Quinn is a new character that was introduced in season 13 and he quickly became one of my favourites. He's ****(spoiler alert) Georgie's love interest in the show and the two of them are in the beginning stage of their relationship. Quinn fit really well into this story, so I thought I should add him in. I hope you guys liked this addition. And about Lou's health situation, I've expanded on it in this chapter - I'm sure you'll find what you're looking for :) It's true, the family is a bit of a mess but they love each other, and I think that Quinn's character will provide them all with another lens with which to look at their situation.**

**Thanks for reading!**

* * *

A little while later, Georgie arrived at Lou's door. She knocked. "Mom? You in there?"

"Yeah, honey," Lou called out. "Just a minute."

Georgie heard Lou shuffle around a bit and eventually close a drawer. It must have been her nightstand, Georgie thought to herself. She waited a few moments for her mother to get the door.

When Lou arrived, she led Georgie into the room. "Hey, did you need something?"

Georgie walked in and closed the door, leaving it slightly ajar. "Yeah, I, um…I was hoping that Quinn could stay the night."

"Yeah, sure," said Lou, nodding warmly. She walked over to her window to crack it open a little. She moved the curtains to the side. "You don't even have to ask. He's always welcome. I'll bring some more blankets over to Amy's old room, make sure he's comfortable."

"Uh, actually…I was hoping he could stay in my room."

Lou stopped what she was doing. She turned, looking at her daughter tentatively. "Georgie, I don't…"

"We've been apart for ages. I had been waiting for the right time to call him over, and I just…there's so much I haven't told him."

"I'm not saying you guys can't talk, or anything. You can catch up."

"Wait, what's wrong with him staying in my room? I'll set up another mattress for him, don't worry."

Lou visibly relaxed. She was relieved, to say the least. "Oh. Okay."

"He wanted me to ask you first because he thought you might get upset if we just went ahead and decided without asking you."

Lou smiled a little. "He was worried about my reaction."

"Yeah, well, he holds you in pretty high regard. It's no surprise."

Lou sighed quietly, looking at her a moment. She didn't want to push her too much. "Okay, of course he can stay."

"Thank you." Georgie sighed with relief. She moved to sit on Lou's bed.

Lou walked over and took a seat beside Georgie.

Georgie waited. She had a feeling Lou was about to go on.

"So…we're very obviously not okay."

Georgie turned her gaze back to in front of her. "No, we're alright."

"You said some things today that I haven't been able to get out of my head."

"I was mad, so I said it. Meant nothing."

"I find a lot of the time that when people are angry, that's when the truth comes out."

Georgie exhaled. "What truth?"

"You think that I haven't been giving you as much time as I should be."

"I'm not a child anymore. I don't need anyone taking care of me."

"It took you eleven years…"

Georgie turned her head toward her mother.

"It took you so long to find this place, to find a life that you'd be happy with."

"It wasn't so much this place that I was looking for. It was you."

Lou smiled to herself. "Yeah, well, I don't want you to think that you need to begin looking for another place. I love you so much, Georgie, and I can't stand the thought that I might have a part in causing you any pain…"

"You're not. I'm just tired and angry. I'm directing my anger at you when I have no reason to."

"There _is_ a reason."

Georgie sighed. She put her fingers to her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, there is. There's always something."

"Honey, please don't leave. _Please._"

Georgie's throat closed up momentarily. Lou's voice was breathy, almost wavering.

Lou waited for her to say something. She desperately wanted to hear that Georgie wasn't about to take off to God knows where. She needed her here. "You know, when I had that health scare, and before we knew what was really going on, I really thought that was it. I thought that it was over for me. I thought that…the only reason my heart was still beating was because of you."

Georgie's eyes seemed lost, her gaze was unfocused. When she heard the last thing her mother said, she clicked her tongue. "Let's not talk about that. Please, I just…I hate thinking about that time."

Quinn's words came back to Lou. _I kept trying to ask her all these questions, and all she could do was cry._

"Do you really want to leave?"

Georgie paused a moment. She didn't want to say anything stupid. "No. I just can't stand seeing you so…I don't know. Sad, broken. And seeing you deal with all those—those symptoms. I can't tell if they're because of your antidepressants or because of—" she broke off, refusing to talk about the one thing that scared her most.

"You know I'm okay."

"I don't, actually. That's what's driving me insane. I don't have it in me to see you like this anymore."

"I'm feeling good. Dr Virani even cleared me yesterday."

Georgie looked at her mother, wide-eyed. "Really? Well—that's—that's great!"

Lou nodded. "Yeah, and this medication that I'm on, it's given me this sense of security. I feel like I have something to fall back on if I'm not able to stand up straight."

"You know, you don't have to go around hiding your meds from me. I'm glad you have them."

Lou smiled a little. "Alright."

"And forget what I said about packing my bags and leaving. Really."

Lou exhaled. "Okay, okay…"

"That's the last thing I want to do," she said, reaching out to tuck a strand of Lou's hair behind her ear. When Georgie's skin came into contact with her mother's, she froze.

Georgie placed a steady hand to Lou's cheek and then checked her forehead. "You're kind of warm."

Lou brought her hand up to hold onto Georgie's. "Honey," she said, trying to get Georgie to focus on her voice, "It's a side effect."

It took Georgie a couple of seconds to process what Lou had said. She finally exhaled audibly. "Oh, okay. Okay…" she quieted, laughing a little.

"It'll subside."

Georgie gazed earnestly at her mother for a little while, the look in her eyes full of adoration. She was unable to hold off any longer and she brought her arms around Lou, hugging her tight.

"What's this for?"

"Don't know," she mumbled, resting her face against Lou's hair.

"I love you," said Lou in a low voice.

"I love you, too." Georgie cradled Lou's head with her hand and planted kisses to her mother's hair.

* * *

When Georgie arrived upstairs to her room, Quinn was sitting up in her bed, leaning back against the pillows. He was resting his eyes. "Hey, you."

Quinn opened his eyes and when he looked at her, he smiled. "There you are. How's Lou doing?"

"She's alright. She said you can stay in my room tonight," said Georgie as she came to sit beside him.

"Oh, that's great."

"Yeah, I'll set up a mattress for you."

Quinn smiled. "Perfect."

Georgie sighed. "You know, today has just been one of those days…"

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah, but then you arrived and it just…it almost felt like everything was okay again."

Quinn smiled brightly. "It felt that way for me, too."

Georgie exhaled as she placed her elbow on her knee and turned to look at him. "I don't know why, but for some reason…I still can't believe you're here. I mean, how did you get here so quickly? I don't even…I mean, we were on the phone pretty late last night."

Quinn looked at her, a smirk at his lips. "Yes, well…while we were still on the call, I was able to book my ticket and get started with packing my bags."

Georgie bit down on her lip, amused. "Oh, my God…"

"What?"

"You are something else, you know that?"

Quinn smiled. "Yeah, yeah."

"So did you get enough sleep before your flight?"

Quinn shrugged. "I couldn't really get to sleep after we said goodbye, to be honest."

Georgie hummed thoughtfully. "I guess that's on me."

Quinn turned to face her. He held her hand in his. "No, you know it's not like that. I just…it's hard to believe that Katie is _gone_."

Georgie inhaled sharply. "You know, I woke up yesterday…and I got this reminder on my phone. Katie and I…we were supposed to go to a concert together. I was going to introduce her to one of my favourite bands," she said, a distant look in her eye. "I never got to do that. Never will."

Quinn was listening quietly. He hoped Georgie would go on, say something more. Because he didn't know what to say this time.

"I'm so mad, you know, like…_just so angry_," said Georgie in a tight voice. "I'm mad all the time, and everything else just keeps getting so messed up, and I keep having to scramble, to…to try and fix it."

"But you can only do so much," he said, a gentle tone in his voice.

"Yeah. I just wish I had a grip on my temper. I keep saying the wrong thing to Mom, and to Mitch."

"They understand, you know. I'm sure they're not holding it against you."

"Yeah, but I feel awful. There's so much that I want to explain to them, but it's never the right time."

Quinn was quiet again.

"You know, I don't know if I told you this, but I ended up in the hospital a day or two after the accident."

He looked at her, rather agitated. When Lou had told him about her injuries, he had assumed that…well, he didn't know. He'd figured she had just been to the ER and that was it. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"I don't know, you know. It slipped my mind, I guess," she said, laughing a little.

Quinn laughed sadly, horrified. "Georgie…"

"Yeah, they were minor injuries. It was mostly the cut on my head, which led to some bleeding and this awful concussion, but Jade got me there in time, you know, before anything got too serious."

Quinn tried his best to keep his face emotionless, but his distress over Georgie's situation got the best of him. He put his hand through his hair, quietly thinking. "Georgie…"

"I wanted you by my side _so_ badly, believe me. But I didn't want to rip you away from your family. And the first few days after the accident I could barely do anything, let alone have enough sense to call you. I didn't even call Jade. And then my mom got sick."

"How long was Lou in the hospital for?"

Georgie shifted uneasily in her spot. "Just over a week."

"You must have been terrified."

"Yeah, I was. Terrified…and paralyzed. Enough to know that I never want to feel like that ever again. I'm relieved it's over, but anytime I hear any mention of Mom not feeling okay, it brings me back to all of that, and I just lose it."

Quinn nodded. "And rightfully so."

Georgie laughed a little. "Don't encourage me. I feel awful. The way I react sometimes, it's ridiculous. But I can't seem to control it either."

Quinn was quiet for a moment. "I know what you mean…it can get really hard to keep your emotions in check. Especially at a time like this. Just give yourself a break."

"You know, I haven't seen you in ages, and there's still so much I haven't told you…"

Quinn breathed a sigh of relief. He had been worried that Georgie wouldn't open up to him. But that seemed not to be the case. She'd just been waiting for the opportune time. He nodded.

"We need to catch up."

* * *

Quinn was up pretty early the next day. It was about half past seven when he exited the shower. He walked out into the hall and was drying his hair with a towel when Mitch walked back into the house.

"Quinn, you're up."

The young man stood there, his brown locks tousled. He was shivering a little from the cold blast of air that came into the house when Mitch had come in. "Hey. Yeah, I figured there was no sense in lying around. I got a decent sleep last night."

Mitch nodded. "Good. That's good."

When Mitch didn't shift his gaze or say anything else, Quinn figured he should do the talking. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah. Yeah, of course. It's just…you were asleep in Georgie's room."

Quinn's lips parted a little. "I was asleep on the floor. We brought out an extra mattress." Standing in front of Mitch, he felt like a little kid who had gotten caught in a lie. He felt as if he had to continue covering for himself. "You can ask Georgie if you want to."

"Yeah, no, I'm sure you did."

"I don't understand. Did I do something wrong?"

Mitch's voice seemed to soften. "No, kid, you didn't. It's just…Georgie's father isn't around and I'm the next closest thing. I need to look out for her. She's been through so much in the past few weeks, and I don't want anything…or anyone to get in the way of her healing."

"That makes two of us. Mitch, I promise you…I'll look out for her. I only have her best interest at heart.

Mitch nodded again. "Look, I know you're a good kid, but it's just hard for a parent to let go. I try not to boss her around too much, but…" Mitch trailed off, laughing a little. "Well, anyways, I'm glad she has you. I know you two are good at looking after each other."

Quinn smiled. "Thank you." He paused a moment before going on. "Alright, how about I get started on breakfast? You guys can join as soon as you'd like."

Mitch moved closer, tapping Quinn's shoulder and continuing to walk past. "You do that, alright? I'll be in to help."

"Cool." Quinn answered a little awkwardly. This whole time he'd thought that he only had Peter, Jack and Tim to worry about. He was wrong, he mused to himself. He chuckled softly, shaking his head.

* * *

When Lou awoke that morning, she felt surprisingly lighter. She still constantly missed Katie, there was no doubt about that. There was a hole in her heart that would never be repaired. She would always miss her daughter. Always.

But today, she felt almost happy. Her and Georgie had finally had a conversation without it resulting in tears, and Lou felt like she had cleared a bunch of her worries. She had finally been able to tell Georgie she loved her, and her daughter finally seemed to listen. Lou just hoped that today would run smoothly. She couldn't go through another repeat of yesterday, or the day before for that matter.

Her and Quinn had spoken during dinner the previous night, and he had promised he would take Lou into town today. She wanted to get Georgie's refills on time because she knew her daughter wasn't about to go. Lou needed to do this one thing, partly to prove to herself that she could go out into town and get this done, and partly because she needed Georgie to know that she cared for her.

Lou loved Georgie more than words could say, but it seemed that fact was getting lost in translation these past few weeks. Lou said her thanks everyday for the fact that Georgie was still here and she needed to make that clear to her daughter. The thought of her leaving shook Lou to her core.

When Lou got herself ready and walked into the living room, she saw Mitch and Quinn were deep in conversation.

Her husband was seated with his back to her so he didn't react right away, but when Quinn saw Lou, he stood.

"Morning. How are you doing?"

Lou sighed contentedly. "I'm feeling good."

At the sound of her voice, Mitch turned, his eyes smiling. "Morning, babe."

"Morning."

Mitch stood as well, walking her over to the kitchen. "You look all dressed up."

"Am I not allowed?"

"Of course you are," he said as he helped her take a seat at the table. "It's just…are you headed somewhere?"

"Yeah, Quinn and I were going to head into town to run a couple of errands."

Mitch nodded. "I could've gone with you."

"No, I know how busy you are."

"Busy? I'm not—"

"Look, I know you took a lot of time off work these past couple of months. And I know you did it for me, but you really need to get back to work. You know, and I know, how Garland is."

Mitch sighed. "Well, I'm glad you're going with Quinn. Just be careful, alright? I know Dr Virani gave us the go-ahead, but I still want you to take it easy."

"I will."

Mitch put an arm around her shoulder and kissed her hair. "Oh, Head and Shoulders?"

Lou laughed a little. "Yeah. That's the one."

Mitch smiled, quite pleased with himself that he had made her laugh.

* * *

A little while after Lou and Quinn had gone, Georgie awoke. She grabbed her towel because she wanted to take a shower, and when she went down to the living room, she saw Mitch was seated in his chair. He was reading the paper.

"Mitch?"

"Hey, Georgie," he said, closing the paper and turning her attention to her.

"Where are Mom and Quinn?"

"Oh, they headed into town. Lou had some things she had to attend to, and Quinn was kind enough to give her a ride."

A smile formed in Georgie's eyes. "Oh."

"Yeah, neither of them wanted to wake you, so I figured I'd stick around for a bit. Let you know when you woke up."

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it."

Georgie started for the bathroom but she then remembered the previous day's events. She turned back. "Mitch."

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry about yesterday. I had something going on, and…I didn't mean to snap at you. I really am sorry."

"Kid, don't even mention it."

Georgie smiled sadly. "No, you were just trying to help, trying to be there for my mom…And I appreciate that a ton, believe me. And I get it. You couldn't lie to her."

Mitch exhaled. He seemed relieved. "I didn't mean to put you on the witness stand. I was just trying to put things into perspective for her."

"I know. It makes me wonder why it's so easy for me to lie. I don't…" she trailed off, stealing her gaze down to the side. "I don't like it. It makes me hate myself, but…I feel like I have to, you know?"

Mitch nodded. "Yeah, I know," he said in a low voice.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is I'm sorry. And that I'll—I'll try to cool it. Try to be more honest. I love you both," she said apologetically. "And I don't want to keep hurting you guys."

Mitch's eyes lit up as a smile made its way onto his face. "Yeah, I appreciate it."

Georgie smiled. "Alright, I'll see you in a bit."

Mitch folded the newspaper up and placed it beside him. He exhaled. He felt as if a weight had been lifted from his chest. Georgie had been so angry with him the day before, and he didn't know when to talk to her, or what to say.

It seemed she had sensed exactly what he needed. His eyes welled up, and he laughed to himself. He was a huge softie, and his stepdaughter saying "I love you" to him had most definitely made his day. Mitch desperately wanted to share the news with Lou, but his wife was of course out of the house. He couldn't wait to tell her.


End file.
